What Others are Saying about Visionaries Change the World
“This book brings together the ideas and work of innovative and compassionate individuals who are striving to make the world a more peaceful, secure and happier home for all. I hope this book will sow the spirit of volunteerism to serve humanity in our own small ways to make a bigger difference to the problems facing the world.”
-- Queen Dorji Ashi Wangmo Wangchuck, Queen of the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan
“I couldn’t agree more with Doris Lee McCoy—visionaries do change the world. Read this book and absorb its content, and maybe you, too, can become a visionary who changes the world. Think BIG!”
-- Ken Blanchard, Co-author, The One Minute Manager® & Leading at a Higher Level
“I don't know how she does it, but Dr. McCoy always gets interviews with the most interesting people. Her questions draw out answers that are sometimes unexpected. If you like to think, and like books that are a quick and easy read, this book is worth it. Watch out Barbara Walters!”
-- Jess Todtfeld, SpeakingChannel. TV, Formerly with Fox & Friends
“One of the people that I really admire is Doris Lee McCoy, who has interviewed over 3,000 experts, authors, entrepreneurs and world leaders. Take advantage of what she has to offer and learn from her.”
-- Steve Harrison, Publisher, Radio TV Interview Report magazine.
“I'm very optimistic about young people -- sure, there are some dregs, but I also run into so many high school and university students who are working passionately on behalf of the less fortunate at home or around the world.”
-- Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times columnist, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
~~~
VISIONARIES CHANGE THE WORLD
Making Commitments and Taking Action
Book I
Doris Lee McCoy, Ph.D.
American Spirit Foundation Publishing
La Jolla, California
Smashwords Edition
Visionaries Change the World
Copyright 2012 Doris Lee McCoy, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recoding, or by any information storage and retrieval system whatsoever without permission in writing from author or publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and/or show brief video clips in review, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles.)
For information address:
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ISBN: 978-0-9773-777-4-9 (Paperback)
Visionaries Change the World is a trademark owned by the author.
The author’s website: http://www.dorisleemccoy.com.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
~~~
Is Dedicated To:
Princess Diana
Joan B. Kroc
Nelson Mandela
Oprah Winfrey
~~~
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Obviously this book could never have been written without the help of those who were interviewed. We are all grateful that they shared their deep, important, candid remarks with us.
- Debra Evans – who edited with care and enthusiasm
- Terri Zumstein – printer extraordinaire
- Felicia Jin, Jane Lee, Priscilla Wan, and Jun Yin – my amazing assistants
I would like to extend my gratitude to Scandinavian Airlines for making it possible to attend the United Nations Women’s Year Conference in Nairobi, Africa.
Also, much thanks to Continental Airlines and Peggy Mahoney for allowing me to go to Beijing.
- Shane, Shanna, Connor – and all the children of the world who will inherit our earth
I am grateful to God for putting this goal on my heart, and giving me the energy to follow through this, at times hard, but never boring and incredible opportunity.
~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Doris Lee McCoy, Ph.D.
PART I – STANDING UP FOR HUMANITY
Chapter 1 … Eradicating Landmines in Africa
Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry
The Global Patrons of the Mineseeker Foundation, including:
-John Paul DeJoria, Co-Founder John Paul Mitchell Products, Patron
-Michael Kendrick, Founder, Mineseeker Foundation
-Nelson Mandela, Founder, Patron
-Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group
Chapter 2 … Stopping Genocide in Darfur
Nick Clooney and George Clooney, Alerting People to Sudanese Genocide
Joey Cheek, Olympic Speed Skating Gold Medalist
Rebecca J. Okwaci, Journalist, TV and Radio Host, Former Freedom Fighter
Zebiba Shekhia, Author and Founder of HealingBridges.org
Andrew Young, Assistant to U.S President Jimmy Carter, U.S. Ambassador to U.N., Mayor of Atlanta
Xernona Clayton, Founder of Trumpet Awards Foundation Honoring Achievements of African Americans
Melanne S. Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large, Office of Global Women’s Issues, U.S. Department of State
Justice Sandra O’Connor (ret.), First woman Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
John Templeton, M.D., Founder, John Templeton Foundation
Chapter 5 … Healthy Food and Raising People Out of Poverty
Nu Skin Enterprises, Producers of Vitameal
Muhammad Yunus, Ph.D., Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2006, Founder of Grameen Bank
Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Oxford University
Steven Pratt, M.D., author of SuperFoodsRx
Catherine Bertini, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Agricultural Development Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Professor, Maxwell School
Chapter 6 … Curing Diseases, Cultivating Hope
Bob Wright, former President and CEO of NBC Universal; Co-founder of Autism Speaks
Nancy Davis, Founder the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis
Tommy Hilfiger, Assists in MS Foundation, Founder Tommy Hilfiger
Karen M. Vanderhoof-Forschner, Founder of Lyme Disease Foundation
Hubert Greenway, M.D., Curing skin cancer through Mohs surgery
William Magee Jr., D.D.S., M.D., Founder and CEO of Operation Smile
T. Denny Sanford, Visionary philanthropist and humanitarian
Senator Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Chapter 7 … Environment, Housing, and Pollution
Millard Fuller, Founder of Habitat for Humanity which built over 100,000 houses
Dick H. Smith, Australian Entrepreneur, Businessman, Aviator, Patriot and Philanthropist
Zhengrong Shi, Ph.D., Founder and CEO Suntech Power, based in China, TIME magazine’s 2007 “Heroes of the Environment”
Kathleen Duffy, Manager, New York Marriott Downtown Hotel, the Greenest Hotel in America
PART III – HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Chapter 8… Saving At Risk Kids & Turning Prisoners & Drug Addicts into Productive Citizens
Roxanne Spillett, CEO and President Boys and Girls Club
Mimi Silbert, Ph.D., Founder, Delancey Street Foundation, turning incarcerated prisoners and drug addicts into productive members of society
Chapter 9 … Forging a New Future
Bob Buford, TV Executive, Philanthropist, and Author
Norman Cousins, Former Editor-in-Chief, Saturday Review
President Bill Clinton and Clinton Global Initiative University
Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize winner, Award-Winning Journalist NY Times
Steve Jobs (dec.), Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Apple Inc. and Pixar
Doris Lee McCoy, Ph.D. - The Author Speaks Out on the Future
Other Non-Profits Making a Difference
~~~
“Give us, O God, the vision which can see thy love in the world in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forth the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen.”
–Astronaut Frank Borman, Christmas Day 1968, Prayer sent to Earth from his Apollo 8 mission
While much of our world is fighting over oil and gas, and struggling with political corruption and economic turmoil, a small but very powerful group of people are fighting for the survival and dignity of our human family.
Who are they? And how are they doing their important work?
They are visionaries whom you are about to encounter as you read this book. Some of them you may be familiar with and some will likely be new to you. What they all have in common is that they are people who are actively observing the major problems in the world and are making commitments and taking action.
We live in an extraordinary time in history when we can truly move forward. Many people throughout the world are feeling this overwhelming need, and they are responding with their talents, time, and money. Nick Clooney and his son George Clooney could be basking in the glory of their past accomplishments, yet they go to Darfur. They do this at the price of even putting their lives at risk.
Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Branson, and John Paul DeJoria, could be taking life easy, but instead they are intent on removing the landmines in Africa that have been left behind from past wars. Princess Diana began this courageous fight to eradicate mines which have left over 12,000 children and adults without arms or legs each year. This small group is combining their resources and visibility toward a unified goal: to get rid of the bombs with new technology.
Author, philanthropist, and founder of The Sister Foundation, Helen Hunt, Ph.D. could be vacationing somewhere on a desert island, but she, too, is busy helping underserved women in America and throughout the world.
Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and now in his 80’s, doesn’t need the money, yet he continues to make a strong impact through writing his weekly column and furthering the work of the Freedom Forum Foundation, which champions free speech in journalism.
Mimi Silbert, Ph.D. could be making big money in the corporate world. Instead, she chooses to demonstrate how in the right environment and with the right education, four-time incarcerated criminals, drug addicts, and prostitutes can learn to be productive, contributing members of society. It is my promise that you will be moved by her interview.
You may wonder, “Why do these people do what they do? And why do they make these choices?” I wondered as well. So after personally talking with the 82 individuals in person for this book, and from my interviews with over 3,000 leaders who have shared their stories in the past, my conclusion is that they were moved to take action because it is the right thing to do. They recognize the crossroads we are facing—environmentally, economically, politically, culturally—and yet something has touched them deeply. Something has inspired them to spring into action.
In truth, dear reader, this book is more about you than it is about the people whose great work is discussed here. The courage, creativity, compassion, and curiosity that they demonstrate exists within you too. The capacity to improve the quality of life for yourself and others is hardwired into your heart, mind and soul.
My hope is that the stories contained here will inspire you, igniting your imagination and giving you new ideas and connections for how to get more deeply involved. Maybe you will decide to become more environmentally active. Maybe you are a teacher and can bring fresh ideas to your students for collectively making a difference. Maybe you are an employer or an employee who takes on the challenge of creating a more positive atmosphere at work. Maybe you have excess food or money that you might share. Maybe you have time on your hands and can volunteer your skills for those in need. There are countless possibilities.
It is my desire that the visionary work of others inspires the Visionary who is alive within you that I have included a brief “Visionary Reflection” at the end of each chapter. Each reflection is meant to be like a mini oasis, where you can take a moment to reflect on what you’ve read – to take a deep breath and make contact with the still, small voice within you. At the heart of the matter, these inner reflections are moments to recognize and acknowledge your own gifts, strengths, skills and talents. As you connect with your own unique resources, you may see new ways that your life can make a greater difference in the lives of others – whether that’s in your own community or on the other side of the globe.
Doris Lee McCoy, La Jolla, California
~~~
PART I – STANDING UP FOR HUMANITY
~~~
CHAPTER 1
Eradicating Landmines in Africa
Princess Diana with sons Prince William and Prince Harry
Photo courtesy of Thechrisdsblog.wordpress.com
As our global world becomes smaller, and as we travel more, we are more sensitive to the plight of the under-served. Charity and compassion has led us more into sharing, assisting, and giving back to a world that has provided us such a bounty of gifts. Look around you and you will find many, no matter where you live.
One person who inspired many, who brought a new approach to being a part of the Royal English family, was Diana, Princess of Wales. The late princess not only championed charities in the UK, but with her travels in Africa, she was emotionally affected by the children and adults who had been desperately wounded by landmines left behind by present-day and former wars. As her compassion touched many of us around the world, we listened to her concerns. I recall a moment of shock that spurred me on to get involved. It happened one day when I visited the United Nations building in New York City and saw photographs of how profoundly these bombs, hidden in the ground, can devastate children and adults.
Mozambique is often pointed to as another kind of example of the destructive capabilities of landmines. The country is blessed with naturally rich, fertile soil for growing vegetables, but due to the threat of landmines, much land is not being utilized for planting. Needless to say, the great detriment this has caused to the health, well-being, and prosperity of the people of Mozambique is far-reaching.
Princess Diana undoubtedly educated her two young sons about the ravages of landmines, as well as the need to be involved in other social and human concerns. Prince William became a patron for Centrepoint due to his concern about homelessness in Great Britain, even spending a night on the London streets to gain awareness.
Fortunately, many foundations have emerged to address the scourge of landmines. HALO Trust is one of the foundations that Princess Diana brought to the attention of the world. HALO Trust focuses on minefield clearing and works in areas such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Angola, Somaliland, Georgia, Nagorno, Karabakh, Kosovo, and even Columbia in South America.
Strongly connected to HALO Trust and its staff of 7,700 people, Prince Harry appears to be following his mom’s great example in his support of the people who work each day in some of the world's most dangerous landmine zones.
Princess Diana traveled to many nations and was an active campaigner for the ban on the manufacture and use of landmines until the year before her death. She truly cared and used her public image to bring awareness to the anti-landmine campaign, which resulted in a Nobel Peace Prize later in the ‘90s.
Ten years after Diana's death, Prince Harry and Prince William celebrated her life through a concert marking the 10th anniversary of her death. It was celebrated in London's newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007. Prince William said, “We want it to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted–how she was and all that sort of thing. We wanted to have this big concert full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness, which I know she would have wanted. The main purpose is to celebrate and to have fun and to remember her in a fun way.”
The concert's proceeds went to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which gives grants to communities affected by landmines. Proceeds also benefited Centrepoint and Sentebale. Co-founded by Prince Harry, Sentebale is a fund for the children in Lesotho.
In addition to the concert, there was a formal church service on August 31st of that year to honor Diana’s life. With the young princes overseeing the organization of the events with enthusiasm and care, both were moving tributes. Princess Diana's loving nature and zeal for life is evident in her two boys who continue to keep their mother's legacy alive through their charitable acts and kind hearts.
There are other foundations that have since taken up the charge of eradicating landmines. One shining example is the Mineseeker Foundation, whose members and patrons include Sir Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Group, and my good friend John Paul DeJoria, cofounder of John Paul Mitchell Systems luxury hair care products.
I sat down with John Paul DeJoria to discuss the Mineseeker Foundation’s work in eradicating landmines in Africa. We discussed how there are over 70,000 landmines in the world. Somebody gets blown up every 15-20 minutes, not counting all the animals. Once they’re hit, of course, they’re injured for life or they die. We are trying to raise awareness of this and help the foundation raise money for a new technology, which is put on a blimp to detect and record the location of each landmine onto a GPS map, so they are easier to find and remove.
In a turning-point meeting in South Africa, Sir Richard Branson and John Paul DeJoria joined forces with Nelson Mandela, Michael Kendrick, and Alan Oberholzer to discuss how to help solve the landmine problem:
Photo courtesy of Michael Kendrick
L to R: Nelson Mandela, John Paul DeJoria, Sir Richard Branson, & Michael Kendrick.
Mineseeker Foundation Global Meeting, hosted by Michael Kendrick:
Michael Kendrick: I want to formally introduce you today to John Paul DeJoria and our new patron. John Paul has been responsible for introducing us to the North African countries in order to obtain the funds we desperately need. All of this started with the gentleman on the left there, Alan Oberholzer. He’s actually been instrumental with me helping to establish this great group. John Paul, if you’d like to explain the funding.
John Paul DeJoria: Our goal and our direction is we are going to try not to depend on any country of the world or governments to fund this. So what we have done as a group is decided we are going to try to get the funding. Should anything not happen there, we may have other people standing by that may help fund Mineseeker—our equipment, technology, and getting the first blimp actually floating in the air.
Our goal is to make six or seven of these and have them in various parts of the world. Our overall goal for the funding is to be able to remove every landmine on this planet over the next 10-15 years.
But we are dedicated to getting this done. We may have the financial means to be able to do that without relying on politics to get it done. But we need political help once we are in the country with groups that will help remove them. In the mean time, I am going to Mozambique to help replace some of the limbs of those afflicted.
Michael Kendrick: We are most interested in getting the donation from Libya. Richard and I have visited Libya recently, and they have said they’re going to do this. But apart from the money, it’s a very good story that Libya has come out and established normal relations and is helping people. That gives Mineseeker a huge awareness around the world so it’s on the top of people’s mind.
Michael Kendrick: There is more concentration in Mozambique, which is very difficult to find, because the water moves the plastic mines. And Angola, we all know is suffering economically because of the mines, so we want to target those two areas first.
Nelson Mandela: That’s very good because there are a lot of landmines there. In Mozambique they have done things which no human being ought to do, and one doesn’t want to repeat the cruelty which they have committed. And the same thing in Angola. Those countries now are recovering, but it is very difficult because they are recovering from a very difficult background in which there is poverty and lack of education and ignorance. But there are many people that are doing very good work there. And I don’t want to mention my wife, she does a lot work, but I hardly mention her because already she is becoming more important than I am. (group laughs)
Michael Kendrick: You are lucky to have her, she is very lovely.
John Paul DeJoria: (Jokingly, John Paul adds) So you really want a job with me?
Nelson Mandela: I do want a job with you because she is very dominating, that is the problem I have. (group laughter again)
Alan Oberholzer: The other thing is in Mozambique, after 30 years of civil war there are weapons that have been hidden all over the country. Mineseekers can go in there and find these weapons very quickly and eradicate them.
Nelson Mandela: That’s very good. When are you planning on going there?
Michael Kendrick: We’re hoping within 12 months. The British Administration of Defense have given us the technology, and we have to now buy all the equipment and provide the airship and get away, but we’re working very hard and very quickly.
Nelson Mandela: Are you going to consult with some people in Mozambique as to where most of these landmines are located?
Michael Kendrick: Your wife has put me in touch with the Prime Minister of Mozambique.
Nelson Mandela: I see.
Michael Kendrick: So, we’ve already written to him, we’re already moving forward on that.
Nelson Mandela: That’s good, that’s very good. We also have a very good chap in Armando Guebuza who is now president, and he is a very good man, very intelligent.
Michael Kendrick: Oh fine, that will be very nice if we could contact Zelda.
Nelson Mandela: No, no, no, you’ll certainly meet him, he’s a very good chap, he’s very intelligent and very committed to Mozambique.
John Paul DeJoria: We are going to try to make this happen. It’s like all of us are paying our rent for being alive on the planet earth. This is one way we are paying our rent.
Nelson Mandela: You’re not like me now, because I’m preparing to take my grave because of my old age.
Michael Kendrick: Thank you very much for your time again and welcoming our new patrons. We look forward to a successful future detecting and removing the mines.
Nelson Mandela: I’m very happy to have been with you, thank you, thank you very much. It’s always good to see you, Richard.
~ end of interview ~
In order to spread the word further, Nelson Mandela made a video of his appeal for eradicating the land mines in Africa, addressed to world leaders.
“As patrons of the Mineseeker Foundation my wife, Graca Machel, and I, take this opportunity to call upon the world business leaders and space men to support a new technology that can hasten our quest to rid the world of landmines. We believe that with a renewed and stronger effort we can increase our determination to free thousands upon thousands of people that suffer from the devastation of this man-problem. I call upon you to stand hand in hand with us as we move forward to remove landmines from out planet once and for all. I thank you. On behalf of all of us on Mineseekers and 1,000 angels, please join us.”
Doris Lee: That is a wonderful look inside an important conversation. Can you tell us what will be next?
John Paul DeJoria: We agreed that we would carry the word forward for Mineseeker. Our goal is to try to raise the money necessary to be able to get the equipment to do that. Each individual was very excited to be a part of this project. I’ll start by buying prosthetic limbs in Mozambique.
We changed the name later to the Soul of Africa and Food 4 Africa, expanding it a little bit further. It’s the same organization, we just changed the name. We’re not only removing landmines, but also replacing some limbs of those that have been affected by landmine destruction.
It’s interesting, because countries like Mozambique, for example, probably have three or four million landmines, Angola probably 10 million, Afghanistan 10 million. It’s a very big problem, and we’re very excited that the new technology works so well.
The first country to totally get rid of landmines with this technology is Bosnia. We used the United Nations blimp to do it, but Michael Kendrick was able to find some new technology that was put on the blimp that made it more affordable. We’re still raising the money to build the first blimps to go to other countries to remove the mines.
How does that work?
These blimps go very slowly, and this technology is on the blimp. It’s almost like a laser beam system where it penetrates the ground down seven or eight feet, picking up a signature of every landmine in the ground or any other armament there.
Once picked up, it’s transmitted to a satellite, which sends it to a mainframe computer in England, and then it bounces it back to another computer, whatever country we’re working in, that prints out the maps.
We haven’t gotten the first units up yet, other than the one we did with the United Nations. I went into Mozambique and personally made contributions – on behalf of hairdressers of the world and the Paul Mitchell Systems Company. I’m also personally replacing limbs of landmine victims; we’ve already replaced dozens of them.
Is it true that there are approximately 500,000 people in Africa that have lost limbs?
I think there are probably more than that, but 500,000 sounds right.
What do you see as the next step?
The next step is to finalize the rest of the money being raised and to get the first hot air balloon up, with the first one probably going into Mozambique. Then we have seven others afterward to be put together to go into the other countries.
What is the cost?
Initially, it is about $30 million, but fortunately, as I mentioned, Michael Kendrick found a less expensive technology that is just as efficient. So after you have the first one up, each one additionally is approximately $10 million. That’s for the blimp and the equipment on it and operating expenses as well.
By the way, Richard Branson and I have all picked up our own expenses on this, going to and from Africa. We don’t even use donated money. We pay our own way.
All of us get a wonderful warm feeling, a good reward knowing we’re doing something for people who, unfortunately, stepped in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Is there anything else that you’d like to mention?
I wish everybody a life of peace, love, and happiness.
You have such a wonderful respect for every human being. How can the public contribute?
They can go online to http://www.minseeker.org to make a donation. All patrons volunteer their time, and our celebrity focus is used to be able to accomplish this.
John Paul DeJoria is now focused on contributing to three states in Appalacia.
Visionary Reflection on…
Compassion
Compassion, in its truest sense, isn’t just a mental activity. As the Mineseeker team demonstrates, compassion is a caring that can extend even to people who live in distant lands, people we will likely never meet. Compassion is a depth of empathy that connects us more profoundly to others and to ourselves. Think about a challenge you may be facing right now and ask yourself, “How can I bring more compassion to this situation?”
~~~
CHAPTER 2
NICK CLOONEY
American journalist, anchorman, television host, and activist for Darfur
Nick Clooney has had a richly diversified career; TV personality, a politician, speaker, journalist, and author of three books. Recently, he and his son, actor/producer George Clooney, went to Darfur in Sudan and have alerted the world of the gravity of the situation there.
Doris Lee: Nick, would you comment on the situation in Darfur? One of the specific questions I have is regarding where the Janjaweed soldiers are getting the guns that enable them to go into small villages and kill people and even animals.
Nick Clooney: The background on this is that Sudan, which as many of your readers will know, is geographically the largest country in Africa and has been troubled for many generations. Specifically, immediately following its separation from Great Britain it launched into a civil war, which intensified about 25 years ago between the North and the South. They finally reached a very uneasy truce in 2005. The battle, as always, was over economics. Those in the South thought that those in the North, which is where the capital Khartoum is, were not being represented and not getting a fair share of the resources. That was remedied by a peace effort in 2005. It’s an uneasy peace, but it is held now for three years.
At about that same time, the people in the West Sudan region, called Darfur, thought that they also were not receiving a fair share from their government. They started a very small-scale rebellion after having tried other means for about 10 years prior. Unfortunately, a rebellion is exactly what Khartoum wanted, because that gave them the excuse to unleash what many people have called a genocide. The United Nations does not call it that, but President Bush and Colin Powell have called it that. It seems to have all the earmarks of genocide, because it appears that the people in the capital of Khartoum, the government of Sudan, want to simply eliminate all of the people of Darfur.
Why would they do that? There are several excuses, one is that they’re troublesome and demanding more resources; also, there appears to be much more oil available in the Darfur region than there is in central Sudan now. In addition to that, there’s a racial element here. Those in Darfur are African Muslims.; those in Khartoum are Arab Muslims. There has always been some tension, but nothing to match what has happened now in these last few years. What has happened is that 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes, because they’re living in camps and the world is feeding them now through non-governmental organizations.
We believe that as many as 300,000 to 400,000 have been slaughtered by, as you suggest, the Janjaweed. Who are the Janjaweed? They are a group of Northern militia nomads actually, themselves having some economic problems because of the encroachment of the Sahara Desert. They are easy prey for the government, which will tell them, “We will feed you, we will pay you, we will arm you, but what we want you to do is drive the Darfurees out of Sudan in whatever way you wish.” They have done that very efficiently and effectively, mostly by slaughter, by killing whole families.
As many as 1,000 tiny villages have been burned to the ground by the Sudanese Air Force, by some Sudanese regular forces, and also by these Janjaweed, which translated means “devil riders”—and that’s what they are and what they do. They come in on camels and horses, armed to the teeth. They go after these helpless people, slaughtering them and then stealing their cattle and the few possessions they have. This has been going on now for several years.
Some of us have been trying to call attention to that fact. Nicholas Kristof, a great columnist for the New York Times and many other reporters have gone over to tell that story, but for one reason or another, it has not caught the attention of our own news outlets. Particularly because of his international fame, my son George and I hoped that going there and reporting what we saw would bring a little more attention to it. It seemed to have done that, but that wasn’t nearly enough. We’ve been flat failures; nothing has really changed and the people are still being killed every day and the dislocation continues.
There are 80 non-governmental organizations, and these wonderful people are some of the great heroes of the Darfur story. Completely unarmed, they’re there doling out whatever they can of comfort, food and whatever protection they can give. These are all the people we’ve known all these years: CARE is there, and Save the Children is there. All of the great humanitarian organizations are there. When George and I saw them, we were shocked at what young people they were; 27-year-olds running large compounds and completely helpless as far as their protection against these militia and Sudanese troops and the Janjaweed. Nonetheless, they stay there and do their best to keep the camps solvent and keep the minimal medical facilities going.
George and I went to several of the camps. We were there only 10 days, but it was a life-changing period of time. Although I haven’t been back since that trip, George has been back, not only in Darfur, but also in other parts of central Africa where there is unrest, like the Congo and some of the others. But still, the running sore is Darfur.
We simply believe, as I think most people reading your book would believe, that if we are who we think we are—if Americans are what we have always been—then we have to care about this. This has to matter to us: helpless people being run out of their homes, killed, things stolen from them. This has to matter to us, and we must do what we can to help them.
We’ve been attempting to do that, we’ve been trying to get the 26,000 U.N. troops in there to at least keep people alive while a peace process is begun. There have been some steps forward, mostly from the people in the U.S. I’ve gone out and spoken more than 176 times. George has gone out to speak as well. Many more people are doing this work, and because of that, it is apparent that this problem is not going to be solved top down. Our news people are not going to do anything about it; it’s going to come from the bottom up. It’s going to come from churches, synagogues, mosques, town meetings, and schools, universities and high schools. There is a grassroots movement from the ground up to help these people, to push our own elected officials into moving this up in priority from priority 50 to priority 30, and maybe to priority 15, to get it on the radar screen again so that we can help these people.
Why is news reporting going so slowly? Are our media people afraid of retaliation of some kind?
I don’t think its fear. It is simply that it’s a difficult story to report, because it’s a closed society. It’s hard to get reporters in there, and it’s expensive to get reporters in there. There are many news organizations that believe this is not as important a story as others.
As you know, our news organizations have been pulling back from reporting news from around the world, and they’ve fired or replaced most of their foreign correspondents. We have fewer than 10% of what we used to have even as recently as 20 years ago. That’s because we believe Americans don’t care about what’s going on in the rest of the world; we only care about what’s going on within our own borders. We’ll care about Iraq, because we’re there with our soldiers who are getting killed, and the same is true of Afghanistan.
It is believed in news organizations that nobody cares about India, about Indonesia, about Singapore, and nobody cares what’s going on in Africa or elsewhere in the Middle East, other than where we’re deeply engaged. We are among the most ignorant people in the world about what’s going on outside of our own borders. It’s a shocking situation we find ourselves in, because we’re now back to where we were in the 1930s, when we ignored, at our peril, what was going on in the rest of the world—until the rest of the world intruded upon us.
We found out then that what matters elsewhere does matter here. So what matters in Darfur does matter here. China is deeply engaged in Darfur, in all of the Sudan, and many other nations are as well. It’s important for us to at least be aware and understand what’s going on, and then if we decide we’re not going to do anything about it, that’s fine. We should know what is happening elsewhere in the world and particularly where innocent people are dying by the hundreds.
One of the criticisms and questions people have is how much can America police the world?
You’re quite right. None of us who have been there would recommend that any American troops be sent there. That would be counterproductive and is not what is required there. What is required is our insistence that an acculturated force be sent there by the United Nations. What I mean by acculturated is Muslim soldiers—peacekeepers who are, incidentally, ready to go from Tanzania and Ghana.
The troops are there; they need some equipment, and that’s what the United States can provide. They need some pressure at the U.N. and the Security Council. The United States can provide that. Then those 26,000 U.N soldiers can get in there and give the Sudanese themselves the opportunity, the breathing space, to begin a peace process, and to begin dealing with a dictator in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum. His name is Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir. Recently, it was announced that he was indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide. The International Criminal Court is the one that indicted Slobodan Milosevic and others for their crimes against humanity.
No, we should not be sending American troops or warplanes there. We don’t mean that at all. What we can do, and what appears as proper for us to do, is to apply all the pressure we can. And if there are material things that are needed by that force, to help provide those as well.
The L.A. Times carried an article on the front page concerning the President of Sudan. They declared him as a threat and issued a warrant for him. How do you feel about that?
I’ve always felt that the best defense is to do the right thing. What’s the correct thing to do? What has this man been doing? Is he responsible for killing upwards of 300,000 to 400,000 people and dislocating two and a half million others of his own people? If that is true, and if this warrant charges that, then we must serve it—and we must serve the truth by bringing this to the attention of the world. He can ignore the warrant of course, but if he does, all those who have been supporting him—Russia, China, all the others—now must take pause.
This is an arm of the United Nations, as you know, and a National Criminal Court has called him a mass murderer. If they continue to support a mass murderer while attempting to find themselves a place in the sun in the great world organizations, then they’re going to have to take a much closer look at the people with whom they’re dealing, including a man just indicted as a mass murderer. This certainly will apply more pressure with Russia, China, and with the Arab League itself, which must deal also on the international arena.
This is the right thing to do, which will bring about the best result. If it makes some people uncomfortable or if the shoe begins to pinch for some other organizations, that’s a small price to pay.
Then finances are a way in, and we can diplomatically move on that, right?
Yes, and there’s something else as well, something that we have not done effectively yet, and that is to apply personal economic sanctions against the individuals in the government of Khartoum. They now have the ability to go to the Riviera, to shop in London at Harrods, or to come to the Cleveland Clinic in the U.S. for their illnesses. If we apply personal sanctions, which we can do and other nations can as well, that is a very effective tool.
We have a history of that, because in 1996 the leading citizen of Sudan was Osama Bin Laden. He had been driven from Saudi Arabia by members of his own family because of his radical views. He took up residence in the early ‘90s in Sudan and became its leading citizen, its richest person, building roads and having large farms. The United States, Britain and France knew that he was a radical, and he had already begun to threaten American and Western interests. They told the individuals in the Sudanese Government, we are sanctioning you; we’re taking away your money. You can’t spend your money in our part of the world. That immediately worked. In 1996 the Sudanese Government pressured their leading citizen, Osama bin Laden, to leave the country, and he indeed did, going to Afghanistan where he continued to foment his plots.
Where can people get more information concerning the situation in Darfur? And what do you think about requesting information for our television stations?
Call your TV or radio station or Congressperson. Don’t call just once, because if you call just once, they’ll blow you off. If you call a second, third, and fourth time, you’ll make a pest of yourself. And each time say, “What’s going on with Darfur? I guess it’s all solved, because I haven’t heard anything from you about it. Tell me what House Bill there is dealing with the situation in Darfur. What is your liaison with the United Nations saying about what’s on the agenda now?”
Ask those questions over and over. I know that works, because every time I do that at a speech, I get calls from friends of mine who are in public life, elected officials, and they say to me, “Call them off, Nick. They’re bugging me, they’re driving me crazy, and I’m doing the best I can!”
Of course, then I tell them, “No, you’re not doing the best you can, because those folks aren’t home yet. They’re not back at their little farms tending their goats and their cattle.” That’s the goal, get those folks home so they can live in peace. That’s all that anybody wants.
Should we also contact our United States Representative to the United Nations?
Absolutely. That’s a very good choice, but I’m trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible. You can make local calls and still get your U.S. Representative, Senator, and your news outlet people, city editors and assignment editors.
People can also go to the website: http://www.savedarfur.com. It’s a clearinghouse for information for anyone who is online.
I recommend that people do what they’ve been asked to do so many times before in their lives, but often haven’t done. That is to simply contact anybody who has any influence at all, including their elected congressmen.
Good information. Your son George was recently given the honor of being the U.N. Messenger of Peace, is that correct?
Yes absolutely, we’re very proud of that, and it’s something that George is working on at least a part of every day. It’s a great honor for him, and he takes it very seriously, as do all of us. He’s been over there again in very difficult circumstances, but he learned a great deal more and came back with what I thought was a marvelous message for the United Nations. He doesn’t like me to talk about this, so I won’t specifically, but he has other missions for the United Nations coming up very soon.
A lot of people in other countries are trying to attain the freedom and democracy that we have. You have been a scholar of American History in the past. What really defines America for you?
Our system was set up by a small group of geniuses more than 200 years ago. What they allowed this nation to do, which had not been done before and is very rare today, is to accept, honor and eventually, to assimilate diversity. Our founding fathers said this is what we think the government ought to be, what it ought to look like, and how we ought to treat one another, but if you don’t think so, fix it, change it.
Not everything in the Constitution of the United States was sacrosanct, it was not all correct. We decided to elect our Vice Presidents a different way within 10 years of the institution of the Constitution; the body of the Constitution considered African-Americans five-eighths of a person, the body of the Constitution didn’t address the issue of women at all. All of those things were changed, and they were changed in an orderly, legal way. It’s been painful, we’ve made terrible mistakes along the line, but we left ourselves open to the possibility of change—and we’re still doing that.
Totalitarian nations are inflexible, and they cannot allow change, because change means they might lose power. We don’t care about that, because our power changes every two to four years anyway by the election process. It’s a brilliant system, and if we don’t tinker with it to the point of stultifying it and making it inflexible, we’ll continue to grow, because America isn’t a place—it’s an idea.
Looking around the world, is the human condition actually improving? How do you read that?
Those of us who have done news for all of our lives, we make a mistake by not explaining what we’re doing for a living. When I was a news director I used to say that if I had the courage of my convictions, I would have a disclaimer at the beginning of every newscast. Say I was in Cincinnati, I would say, “Today, in our tri-state region, 1,250,000 people woke up and did exactly what they were supposed to do. They took care of each other. They went to work. They went to school. They went to church. They took care of their children. They took care of their elderly, and they did just what they were supposed to be doing. 150,000 people woke up today but didn’t do the correct things. Those are the stories you’re going to hear today, because news is an aberration.”
News is the chronicle of the abnormal event of the day, spread out all over the world. Consuming news 24 hours a day now, we hear nothing but the aberrants. We don’t understand that most people have precisely the same aspirations that we do, want the same things for their families that we do, and most of them are doing the best they can every day of the week. We somehow don’t know whether there is general progress being made throughout the world. I think there is. I think all of these things that we’re hearing and seeing are very difficult, continuing, growing pains in the world.
Yet at the end of the day, a story of humanity and particularly the story of the United States is a great story…and a continuingly positive story.
Excellent. Tell us about the new job you’re moving on to…Will you still be with the American Life TV?
Yes, I’m continuing my work with American Life. They’ve been just great to me by allowing me to do these special programs, “Moments that Changed Us,” which deal with specific people and moments in our history that have actually affected us. I’ll also be teaching for the first time in my life as an instructor in Journalism at American University in Washington, D.C., and simultaneously, I’ll be working the Scholar-in-Residence Program at the Newseum (museum of news) on Pennsylvania Avenue that just opened in Washington, D.C.
I’m looking forward to those new adventures.
You are a patriot. Your whole family is one that I think others could emulate, because you’re out there doing important things that affect a whole lot of people. Bless you for that.
It’s good of you to say that. Thank you very much, I wish you well.
- Visionary Spotlight -
GEORGE CLOONEY
Son of Nick Clooney, celebrated movie actor, and Darfur activist, passionately speaks out about the ongoing urgency to confront the atrocities in Africa…
“These crises play to the advantage of [Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s Islamic ruler, and his militants] by pushing Darfur farther from the world’s headlines. If we look away and hope it all goes away, an entire generation will disappear.”
JOEY CHEEK
Olympic Gold Medalist Speed Skater and the co-founder and president of Team Darfur, an international coalition of athletes committed to bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan
After winning the gold medal for the men’s 500-meter speed skating event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Joey Cheek gave his $25,000 winnings to the children in refugee camps in Sudan through Right to Play, another athlete-driven humanitarian organization formed by former Olympic champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway. A few months later, he joined Nick and George Clooney for a fact-finding trip.
Doris Lee: Joey, how did your career as an athlete begin?
Joey Cheek: When I watched the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, and I saw speed skater Johann Olav Koss win three gold medals and Dan Jensen win the 1,000 meters, I looked at my mom and said, “Wow, I want to do that!”
You have mentioned spiritual support. What role does that play in your training or your life?
It has a great part to do with my life, but I rarely speak out loud on it. I keep it somewhat private. I was raised Catholic. My mom, my brother and I were fairly regular churchgoers for most of my youth. Most of the races were on Saturday and Sunday, so it was difficult to keep a regular church schedule.
I’m nearly not so egotistical to think that I am the only thing in my universe. I think that there’s a great deal that goes on that I have no idea why it happens, so I think there’s a plan involved. Aside from that, I try and stay away from making too many other judgments.
When you were preparing for the Olympics, how did you approach the competition?
2002 was the most important year of my entire career, and it was also my most difficult year. My public successes wouldn’t come until 2006 when I won a gold and silver medal. I was doing the thing I love. I was becoming one of the best skaters in the world at that point. Instead of enjoying it, all I did was put increasing pressure on myself. If I didn’t do this correctly then I hated myself for a week. I’d wake up in the middle of the night worrying that maybe I won’t be as good as I was yesterday, which was better than I’d ever been before. I was tying my self-worth to how I performed on the ice.
I’m an ice skater; it’s not like I’m saving people’s lives. It’s not like I’m teaching students or guiding a country. I’m passionate about it, but ultimately it’s a very small thing in the scheme of the universe. However, if I didn’t have that year, I don’t think I would have been prepared for the next Olympics.
What spurred on your movement toward growth?
I was coming of age and figuring out who I was, but it was an uncomfortable growth. There was not one day where I woke up and said, “Oh, I’m happy, I’m headed in the right direction.” It was a long process.
The fact is, no one on earth can do it except you. You need a whole network of people supporting you. You can’t do it without a team. However, ultimately it is you who has to do it on the day it’s supposed to be done.
Do you see that with other athletes?
No question. I spend my time competing at the Olympic level, and the people I’m surrounded by are elite athletes. We have this shared commonality. We’ve all had to stand on the line at the largest sporting event in the world. Sometimes you win by a few hundredths of a second, and sometimes you lose by a few hundredths of a second. So we’ve faced similar pressures.
You see those who are not successful. Sometimes it’s just a lack of talent, but in most cases it’s more of the wrong attitude. A few people that I know don’t believe they can accomplish, so they never really try. I think the attitude you approach life with is a much greater factor in how successful and happy you are; much more important than these external factors that you can’t control.
Doing things so that you help other people is important, especially once you’re successful. That first part I was always pretty good at. I wanted to do something big, and if I chased it hard enough and figured out the right path, I could get there. The second part came a little later. So what if you’ve applied yourself and you’ve done these huge things? Ultimately, that’s fleeting; you’ll be forgotten in 50 or 100 years. However, if you use these talents and these gifts, and you strive to do things for other people, then that can really last forever.
What comes next?
Helping raise money and awareness for the charity I work with called Right to Play. What I really picked up from the Olympics was the situation in Darfur. That’s something I’d like to see to completion.
I just got back from Zambia with Right to Play. We couldn’t get into Sudan because it’s destabilized. Right to Play had a program there but had to pull it out, because it’s just not safe for the aid workers. Having been to Zambia, I have some firsthand experience on the ground now. I’m glad I did it, because it gave me a perspective that you can’t get from reading books or from watching TV.
REBECCA JOSHUA OKWACI
Journalist, radio commentator in Sudan, and former freedom fighter
Rebecca Joshua Okwaci is a journalist and the secretary general of Women Action for Development in Sudan. As a peace advocate, Rebecca co-led the Sudanese delegation to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995 and facilitated dialogue between women from the south and north.
Doris Lee: Rebecca, you are from Southern Sudan but are now living in Nairobi?
Rebecca Okwaci: Yes, I was part of the revolution for liberation. Now I am in Nairobi and am currently working for Sudan Radio Service, and their office is in Nairobi. But most of my work is in Sudan. I do news and programs for the radio, but sources are all over the country in Sudan.
What topics do you report on?
Sudan Radio Service is an Education Development Center project—a USAID funded radio. It came at the time when the Sudanese were negotiating the peace agreement signed in 2005, which ended more than two decades of war. The USAID came up with an idea of having radio help in covering the peace process.
Our direct focus on the radio is peace and development. I contribute to producing a program called The Road to Peace, explaining the peace process. I personally covered the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) itself, which was a big event in our history. The radio covers and produces programs on good governance, law enforcement issues, democracy and elections processes. We want to have a democratic country.
Later on, I was appointed an executive producer, and now I’m a senior journalist and a manager. I supervise staff and programs that cover the importance of improving health, education and agriculture with a focus on peace and developmental issues.
Since the radio is independent, it is very objective. I also initiated and am now producing two important programs for women, Our Voices, in English and Women’s Corner, in Arabic. I focus on all things to do with women, because I feel women’s issues cut across in peace, war, agriculture and so on. I talk about the importance of education for women, peace and reconciliation, communication and leadership. We also speak about gender, so that there is no false impression that women are fighting the men. We are creating opportunities for men and women to work together.
Rebecca, we both attended the UN International Women’s Conference in Beijing and heard that one of the directives was the importance of education for girls. How is that going in Sudan?
I was pleased to be at the Beijing in Conference in 1995, because it gave us women an opportunity to share as women and put forth a plan of action.
I am the Secretary General for Women Action for Development (WAD)—a civil society organization in Sudan. We focus on education for girls. Our cultures in the past did not see education as important for women and girls. Girls got married at an early age. Now, of course, it has changed.
I appreciate the breadth of your knowledge. Tell us about your education.
Education came in through the missionaries who arrived in my area in 1902. Our place, Dolieb Hill, was among the first stations for Christian missionaries in Southern Sudan, so our people learned the Bible and went to school.