[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23319-23320]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              BRINGING SOUTH DAKOTA'S COMPASSION TO AFRICA

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, in August, I had the good fortune to be 
able to travel with several Senate colleagues to South Africa, Kenya, 
Botswana, and Nigeria. We wanted to get a clear look at the development 
challenges in Africa, including health crises, U.S. investment and 
trade, micro-enterprise development, education and agriculture.
  Even before we left, we got a sense of the common cause between the 
people of the United States and the people of Africa. Working with the 
South Dakota Red Cross and Hope Worldwide, citizens from Sioux Falls 
donated more than 1000 pounds of clothes and toys to South African 
children who have been affected by the AIDS pandemic. I want to 
publicly acknowledge the great work of Stephanie Koster, director of 
HIV/AIDS Services for the Sioux Empire Chapter of the American Red 
Cross, on this effort.
  I was overjoyed to be able to deliver, on behalf of South Dakotans, 
some glimmer of hope to children who have suffered either because one 
or both of their parents contracted HIV or because they themselves 
contracted it. In Soweto we met a young girl, Mary, who gave me an 
indication of the price children are paying as a result of HIV.
  Mary is 12 and the eldest of five children. She recently lost both of 
her parents due to complications with AIDS. Not yet a teenager, she is 
left to fend for herself and her four siblings. Despite this challenge, 
Mary rose to greet our delegation and recited a poem she had recently 
written to her parents entitled, ``Parents yesterday, parents today, 
parents tomorrow.''
  I left for that trip convinced that these challenges facing Africa--
chief among them the AIDS pandemic--were tragic humanitarian crises. 
After this trip, I am convinced Africa's challenges, if left 
unaddressed, could soon become America's national security threats. 
Failure to more energetically engage this troubled continent, 
especially in the post-September 11 world, poses risks to both the 
lives of millions of Africans and our own national security.
  That is why I was especially disappointed to learn last Friday 
morning that the House chose to adjourn without passing two important 
pieces of legislation that could have energized our efforts in Africa.
  S. 3032, a bipartisan bill to expand U.S. efforts to support micro-
enterprise

[[Page 23320]]

and which passed the Senate unanimously, was a casualty of the House's 
rush to leave town. We all know that micro-enterprises are a lifeline 
for the poorest of the poor--and have proven to be a pivotal tool that 
has allowed women, especially, to provide for their families. Across 
Africa, we saw women fighting for their families and raising their 
children on money they earned at small shops. But for every woman who 
was able to make ends meet because of her micro-enterprise, there are 
thousands of others who need a helping hand to get started. And by 
helping hand I don't mean a costly program. The typical micro-
enterprise loan is $50. By failing to pass S. 3032, the House missed 
the opportunity to provide that helping hand and opportunity.
  The House also left town without passing a Global HIV/AIDS bill. In 
July, the Senate unanimously passed H.R. 2069, which authorized the 
resources that we all know will be required in the battle against HIV/
AIDS. We were told by the House that the price tag on that bill was too 
high, and that they would pass it if we reduced the funding level. So 
we made clear to the House that we were ready to cut back the amounts 
authorized for this battle--vastly if they insisted--to remove the 
obstacles to some form of progress on this vital issue. Apparently, any 
amount at all was too much for the House leadership, because the House 
just could not get to yes on this vital issue.
  I am particularly disappointed because the House's refusal to act 
ends any hope of enacting the Family Partnership Survival Act. This 
program is very simple. It authorizes $75 million over the next 2 years 
to treat HIV-positive mothers and their partners. By keeping mothers 
and fathers alive so that they can help raise their children, it is, in 
effect, an orphan-prevention program.
  I remember vividly arriving at an HIV Voluntary Counseling and 
Testing Center in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. We were 
greeted by mothers, each of whom was HIV-positive. Yet they greeted us, 
dancing and singing a song whose lyrics were:

       We are so blessed, because we know our status.

  They felt blessed to have learned they were HIV-positive because, by 
knowing their status, they could take steps to protect their partners. 
And they could receive counseling and nutritional supplements to keep 
themselves healthy in the face of this insidious virus.
  It will be an even more joyful day when these women will feel blessed 
not only because they know their status, but also because they have 
access to treatment and drugs that will keep them alive. The House 
could have hastened that day. It did not. And so, Mr. President, I will 
come back at this issue until it is law.
  The President is scheduled to travel to Africa in January. As I was 
able to carry with me on my trip--to young Mary and others--some of the 
compassion of South Dakota, I wish the President could have been able 
to bring with him two new laws expressing the compassion of the United 
States.
  As our dear colleague Paul Wellstone used to say, ``time is not 
neutral.'' We can no longer afford to ignore Africa's challenges, 
because before long they will become our challenges. The House missed 
its chance to help confront those challenges in the 107th Congress. I 
hope it will help us address them in the next.

                          ____________________