2006.06.07: June 7, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Acton Institute: A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Thailand: Special Report: RPCV Tony Hall: Tony Hall: Newest Stories: 2006.04.16: April 16, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Oxford Press: Tony Hall writes "Changing the Face of Hunger: One Man's Story of How Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans and People of Faith are Joining Forces to Help The Hungry, The Poor, The Oppressed" : 2006.04.17: April 17, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Sudan Tribune: Members of US Congress sign letter seeking special envoy to Sudan, recommend Tony Hall : 2006.06.07: June 7, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Acton Institute: A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

By Admin1 (admin) (adsl-69-151-51-37.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 69.151.51.37) on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 10:20 am: Edit Post

A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

"I’m a big believer in faith-based organizations. These people are amazing. They’re not there to work for the dollar. They’re not there because they’re getting big salaries. They’re there because they care. They sustain themselves through their faith. They last longer. They can continue to do it much longer, and the ones I’ve dealt with are very trustworthy." Former Congressman Tony Hall of Ohio, now ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand in the 1960's.

A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall

A leading advocate for the world’s hungry and a former Democratic congressman from Ohio, Tony Hall served as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome from 2002 until April of this year. He is shown here at a demolition site just outside Harare. More than 700,000 people were forcibly removed from homes and land by the government of Zimbabwe’s Operation “Throw Out Trash.” Ambassador Hall spoke with the director of Acton’s Rome office, Kishore Jayabalan.

How has your faith shaped your political priorities, especially with regard to the fight against hunger?

It’s quite a major part. A friend of mine who used to work [with me]—a believer—would come in and pray with me, and we would read the scripture. He said, “Don’t you think it’s time you started to take God into your workplace?” I thought, “Yeah, I do, but I don’t know how to do it. I don’t want to wear religion on my sleeve, because I see so many people do that and to me it looks hypocritical. I want to do it in a way in which I honor God, but I really don’t know how to do it.” So in 1984, when I was a member of Congress, we heard about this amazing famine in Ethiopia, and at the time I was chairman of a subcommittee on international hunger. I decided to go and see it, to try to understand it. So I went to Ethiopia, and I saw this disastrous famine. And I never got over it, because I saw so many people die. I remember going to the clinic where Missionaries of Charity were and the doctor said to me, “We need to go outside because a lot of people have gathered. They have come from all over the region. They’ve been hungry. They’ve had to sell everything to get here, and we can only take about five or six children.” So we went outside, and there must have been a couple thousand people there. And I said, “What do you mean only five or six children?” He said, “That’s all we can handle so the rest are going to have to die. That’s how far gone they are.” So we walked among them. They were thrusting their children at us, and I never got over that. Later on that day, I saw about 50,000 people just get so tired—they had been on the march to find a place where they could find some food and water—and they just settled down in a plateau and started to die. Coming back on the plane, I remembered what my friend had said about bringing God into the workplace. I said this is a way that I can do that. I’m chairman of the committee. I can devote my life or a good portion of my life to trying to help people, and it’s a way I can bring my faith into the workplace as a congressman.


So even if it’s about saving five or six people, that is a way you can manifest your faith. You felt that your faith really put you in this place to help, even if it’s just a handful of people, just one lost sheep, or one lost coin.

Absolutely. I remember when somebody said to Mother Teresa once, “Don’t you think what you do is a drop in the bucket?” She said, “No, it’s a drop in the ocean. But if I didn’t do it, it’d be one less drop.” And I thought that was a good saying. You do what you can do, and you do the thing that’s in front of you. And that was in front of me. This whole chairmanship and everything was thrust upon me, and I felt that this is what I should do. This is what I can do.


When you work with the hungry, how does faith strengthen you in such difficult circumstances?

Well, there are a couple things. One—and again I quote Mother Teresa on this—she said Jesus is with the poor. So number one, he’s with them. Number two, I take people with me when I go on a trip to pray with me, and we get up every morning and read scripture and pray. I started doing this about ten or twelve years ago because I found going on these kinds of trips, seeing people who were dying, especially children, was too hard. It was just too difficult, and I needed strength and power. And as the scripture says, when two or more go together—two or more are gathered together in his name—he’s there. It says in Thessalonians if you go out like this you will have power, conviction, and the Holy Spirit. So I found that really works. And third, I also found that it’s not easy to be with the poor and the sick and the dying. But I began to pray about it: that God would help me to experience him more, to understand more why he’s there, but also to be able to get beyond the death and the misery I see. And God has been great. He’s been able to help me as I prayed to understand. I don’t know how people do this year after year without faith, because it’s too difficult, too hard. It’s got to rip at your heart. And I really don’t know many people without faith who can work in this field very long without suffering greatly. They burn out. I’m sure there are some people out there who can do it, but I have met very few.


Why do you think hunger still exists in parts of the world, especially in Africa?

When a tsunami comes up, you’ll see it because it’ll be on television and the coverage will be constant. And when a Hurricane Katrina comes up, you’ll see it. But we have Hurricane Katrinas and tsunamis almost every day. Twenty-five thousand people will die today. And they’re dying from hunger. They’re dying from disease that’s related to hunger. That’s incredible. So number one, unless it’s on television, [people] don’t see it. Number two, a lot of people are not educated to the fact that there are about 850 million people right now who are hungry. I find that when we show them that, people respond. Americans are really good about responding when they are educated about the fact that [the hungry] are there. There is also a segment in the society that resents the poor. They don’t want to be poor. They don’t want to know about the poor, and they want to get as far away from the poor as they can. These people might have been poor sometimes. There’s also the fact that the political will is not there yet. It’s not a high enough priority among our leaders. Another reason is that the spiritual will is not there. This issue really should be solved and managed and helped by the spirit, by the people of faith in the world, and there are not enough people of faith working on this.


Now part of the U.S. Mission to the United Nation Agencies here in Rome is a mission is to ensure proper stewardship of American resources provided to benefit the poor and the hungry. What does this stewardship look like? Could you explain a little bit what we mean by stewardship?

In the last five years, the United States has given $6 billion to the World Food Program in food and water or food and money. That’s a lot of money. As a matter of fact, that represents about 50 percent of everything that goes to the World Food Program. So to be a proper steward of that money is to travel and see where it goes, whether it’s Zimbabwe, or North Korea, or wherever we are feeding and helping people. To be a proper steward of the money and the resources that are coming from the United States [is] to watch it, to monitor it, to understand it, to make sure that it gets to the people.


Do you find that there’s a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the operational side of things such as administrative costs?

We watch our food and money that goes through the World Food Program. Normally it goes through them to NGOs. It’ll go to the Catholic Relief Services or CARE or the World Vision or Save Children of the World. They contract with them. Almost the same way we do it through USAID. We contract with NGOs. We don’t believe in giving our food and money to the governments anymore because we have a government problem. We’ve learned in the past that our money, our food, and everything gets stolen. It never gets to the people. So we don’t give it to the governments. We try to give it to the NGOs or to non-partisan groups. We have accountants. We have monitors. We watch it. This surprises people when I tell them. We lose very little of our food and money. It surprises people when I tell them that we do a pretty good job of it. We’ve made mistakes in the past, and we have corrected them. But governments are a big, big issue. Corruption is a big issue. And we won’t give it to that government. We don’t trust them.


Would you be able to highlight both some particular successes of the U.N. Food Programs and also specific areas where the work can be improved?

I remember when I first came here three years ago there was a major drought in Southern Africa. We bought a lot of food. We moved it down to Southern Africa because we knew that there was going to be a major drought. And we averted major famine and hunger down there. We saved lots of lives because we were on top of it. This was three years ago, but there are successes all the time. The tsunami was a great success: we were in there feeding twenty-four hours after the problem. We have lots of successes, even on a daily basis, but you never hear about it. These are the kinds of things that don’t draw the press. What draws the press is fighting, killing, wars, destruction, riots, corruption. But feeding 100,000 people today—if I were to tell CNN, it most likely won’t make it into their news. But it’s part of every day. And to the other question: One of the problems is that we are barely keeping our head above water, not only financially, but because there are so many hungry people in the world today. There are always about forty crises going on in the world. And when you also add the tsunamis, the Katrinas, the earthquake in Pakistan, you put them all together on top of the forty crises—we’re barely keeping our head above water. Out of the 850 million people who are hungry in the world right now, we’re only getting at about 10 percent.


In your role as Ambassador here, can you highlight some of things that private charities are particularly good at fighting? And how do you find that these private charities coexistent with governmental programs?

They’re particularly good at being nonpartisan, nonpolitical. They have low overheads and are trustworthy. We like to use them both in the United States and in the U.N. system. They are a must. They’re most important. They do invaluable work. We couldn’t do it without them. We not only contract with these NGOs through USAID, but we contract with them through the World Food Program. And if we didn’t have them, a lot of stuff wouldn’t be going out. They’re important to us.


Do you find that religious charities tend to bring something unique to work in this field?

I’m a big believer in faith-based organizations. These people are amazing. They’re not there to work for the dollar. They’re not there because they’re getting big salaries. They’re there because they care. They sustain themselves through their faith. They last longer. They can continue to do it much longer, and the ones I’ve dealt with are very trustworthy.


How do you think that agricultural subsidies in the developed, as well the developing world, affect the hunger problem?

Well first off, I would hope that we could get rid of our subsidies. They hurt the poor farmers of the world in a very substantial way. These farmers can’t trade with many of the developed nations because of subsidies, because of restrictions. That doesn’t necessarily mean if we lifted everything tomorrow all these farmers would be much better off, because who is to say that the people in the developed nations would buy the produce? It might not be as superior as some of the stuff we have in our own countries. But over a number of years with help, teaching, research, and scientific breakthrough, I think the livelihood of these people would not only be sustained but they could live a much better life. So it is important that we get rid of these subsidies and these restrictions on trade for agriculture products.


Can biotechnology help alleviate hunger?

Biotech food is important because it allows us to use less pesticides, and it’s a very good product. In America, we eat it everyday. But we have leaders of countries in Africa who say biotech food is poison—absolutely the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard. Because if you look at the science of it, you look at the results of it, biotech food has a future. It can feed millions of people. It can help people in Africa, all over the world. It’s not the sole answer to hunger. It’s part of the answer. It’s more of a trade issue for the Europeans. They tell a lot of the Africans that if you take biotech food from America, we’re not going to trade with you. So number one, what they’re saying is very politically motivated. Number two, I look at it as a moral problem. We have lots of good foods that are genetically modified; our maize and our soybeans feed millions of people every year. Nobody has ever gotten sick off of them. You use less pesticides [with biotech food]. It’s a superior product in many ways. And it’s a constant source of irritation when you know that this food is basically good and wholesome, and we can get it to people very quickly, and yet people say it’s poison. It’s a real political issue, but I also look at it as a moral issue. We’ve had leaders in Africa that have refused our food because it’s a biotech food, and their people have starved to death. I have felt that dictators and leaders who have food and refuse to give it to their people violate one of the most basic human rights. So I look at it very much as a moral issue.






When this story was posted in June 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Chris Dodd considers run for the White House Date: June 3 2006 No: 903 Chris Dodd considers run for the White House
Senator Chris Dodd plans to spend the next six to eight months raising money and reaching out to Democrats around the country to gauge his viability as a candidate. Just how far Dodd can go depends largely on his ability to reach Democrats looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton. PCOL Comment: Dodd served as a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps in Congress.

The RPCV who wrote about Ben Hogan Date: June 6 2006 No: 912 The RPCV who wrote about Ben Hogan
Probably no RPCV has done more to further the Third Goal of the Peace Corps than John Coyne with the Peace Corps Writers web site and newsletter that he and Marian Haley Beil have produced since 1989. Now John returns to writing about his first love - golf in "The Caddie who knew Ben Hogan." Read an excerpt from his novel, an interview with the author and a schedule of his book readings in Maryland and DC this week.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

The Peace Corps Library Date: February 24 2006 No: 798 The Peace Corps Library
The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory. New: Sign up to receive PCOL Magazine, our free Monthly Magazine by email. Like to keep up with Peace Corps news as it happens? Sign up to recieve a daily summary of Peace Corps stories from around the world.

Vasquez testifies before Senate Committee Date: June 3 2006 No: 905 Vasquez testifies before Senate Committee
Director Vasquez testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as the new Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture replacing Tony Hall. He has been the third longest serving Peace Corps Director after Loret Ruppe Miller and Sargent Shriver. PCOL Comment: Read our thanks to Director Vasquez for his service to the Peace Corps.

PC evacuates East Timor, hopes to return Date: May 9 2006 No: 890 PC evacuates East Timor, hopes to return
Volunteers serving in East Timor have safely left the country as a result of the recent civil unrest and government instability. Latest: The Peace Corps has informed us that they are monitoring the security situation on a daily basis and that it is the intention of the Peace Corps to return to East Timor if the security situation improves.

First Amendment Watch Date: May 4 2006 No: 883 First Amendment Watch
Maine Web Report hit with Federal Lawsuit
Website wins trademark suit against Jerry Falwell

Interview with a Hit Man Date: April 25 2006 No: 880 Interview with a Hit Man
RPCV John Perkins says that for many years he was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance whose primary job was to convince less developed countries to accept multibillion dollar loans for infrastructure projects that left the recipient countries wallowing in debt and highly vulnerable to outside political and commercial interests. In this exclusive interview for "Peace Corps Online," Colombia RPCV Joanne Roll, author of Remember with Honor, talks to Perkins about his Peace Corps service, his relation with the NSA, "colonization" in Ecuador, the consequences of his work, why he decided to speak out, and what his hopes are for change.

PC Program in Chad temporarily suspended Date: April 14 2006 No: 872 PC Program in Chad temporarily suspended
Director Vasquez announced the temporary suspension of the Peace Corps program in Chad on April 14 and that all 29 Peace Corps volunteers have left the country. With a program dating back forty years (See Page 4 of the April 1966 "Peace Corps Volunteer"), RPCVs hope that volunteers can return to Chad as soon as the situation has stabilized. Congratulations to the Peace Corps for handling the suspension quickly and professionally.

Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA request Date: April 12 2006 No: 869 Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA request
The Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security.

PCOL readership increases 100% Date: April 3 2006 No: 853 PCOL readership increases 100%
Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace Corps Date: March 18 2006 No: 834 History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

PC announces new program in Cambodia Date: March 29 2006 No: 849 PC announces new program in Cambodia
Director Vasquez and Cambodia's Deputy Chief of Mission Meng Eang Nay announced a historic new partnership between the Peace Corps and the Kingdom of Cambodia that will bring volunteers to this Southeast Asian country for the first time. Under King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has welcomed new partnerships with the U.S. government and other U.S. organizations.

Peace Corps suspends program in Bangladesh Date: March 16 2006 No: 827 Peace Corps suspends program in Bangladesh
Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced the suspension of the Peace Corps program in Bangladesh on March 15. The safety and security of volunteers is the number one priority of the Peace Corps. Therefore, all Peace Corps volunteers serving in Bangladesh have safely left the country. More than 280 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Bangladesh since the program opened in November 1998. Latest: What other newspapers say.

Invitee re-assigned after inflammatory remarks Date: March 21 2006 No: 839 Invitee re-assigned after inflammatory remarks
The Peace Corps has pulled the invitation to Derek Volkart to join the Morocco Training Program and offered him a position in the Pacific instead after officials read an article in which he stated that his decision to join the Peace Corps was in "response to our current fascist government." RPCV Lew Nash says that "If Derek Volkart spoke his mind as freely in Morocco about the Moroccan monarchy it could cause major problems for himself and other Peace Corps volunteers." Latest: Volkart reverses stance, takes new assignment in Paraguay.

RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Date: February 3 2006 No: 780 RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps
Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

Military Option sparks concerns Date: January 3 2006 No: 773 Military Option sparks concerns
The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger Date: October 22 2005 No: 738 Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger
When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Acton Institute

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Thailand; Diplomacy; Hunger

PCOL33340
60


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: