allAfrica.com: Africa: Bill Gates, Sr. Africare Award Acceptance Remarks (Page 1 of 3)

On behalf of Bill and Melinda, I'm honored to accept the Bishop John T. Walker Humanitarian Service Award. It means a great deal to us - given the path-breaking work of the people giving the award.

Leaders from Bishop Walker, to C. Payne Lucas, to Julius Coles set a trend for the nation - and demonstrated a personal commitment to action.

C. Payne Lucas, as a young man, went to Togo in 1961 as one of the earliest members of the Peace Corps. Some years later, the President of Niger came to him and pressed upon him the idea of starting an organization like Africare. It says something of your character when a Head of State sees in you the capacity to start a movement. And C. Payne Lucas helped start the movement -- and made the strategic decision to put the U.S. headquarters of Africare in his basement. He could get no money from rich people, until he first raised it from poor people - then the rich took notice. What a leader he has been! Thank you Mr. Lucas.

And what a worthy successor we have in Africare's new leader President Julius Coles. Back in 1961, Julius Coles convinced 800 students at Morehouse College to give him one dollar each so he could travel to Africa and come back and tell them about it. He's been talking up Africa ever since. That's got to be the best return anyone ever got for the investment of a dollar. Thank you Mr. Coles.

When Africare was created more than thirty years ago, it was responding to an emergency of drought and famine - and quickly embraced the cause of agricultural development. Africare's work in agriculture - in HIV/AIDS, and in everything you do - reminds me of the story of a farmer who brought the pastor of his church home one Sunday afternoon to show off his crops.

The pastor was impressed and said: "Look what the Lord and you have done with this corn." And "Look what the Lord and you have done with this wheat." And "Look what the Lord and you have done with these tomatoes." The farmer, who was feeling a little slighted, finally blurted out: "Pastor, you should have seen it when the Lord was working this land by himself."

The founders of Africare were in many ways working the land by themselves. They embraced Africa before others acknowledged the need or the duty. In those early years, no American president had ever visited sub-Saharan Africa. Now three of the last five presidents have done so.

In those early years, American foundations were not interested in the cause of Africa. You've got our attention today. We at the Gates Foundation thank you for your leadership, and we are proud to work with you to fight disease and ease suffering in Africa.

There has been a fair amount written about Bill and Melinda and the birth of their foundation. I mark the start from an event that occurred several years ago. Bill and Melinda had been receiving a rising number of requests for funding. But they had not yet established an organization or settled on a vision for their giving. Then one day they read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago eliminated in this country. Bill clipped that article and sent it to me with a note that said: "Dad, maybe we can do something about this."

Bill and Melinda believe with their hearts and souls that every human life has equal worth. That's the founding ideal of our philanthropy. Melinda captures it best. She has said "The death of a child in Africa is every bit as tragic as the death of a child in America."

If you believe that every human life has equal worth, then you can't keep your heart from breaking when you see the world's inequities. We believe that the world's greatest inequity - that does the gravest damage - is the inequity in global health care.

Poor health aggravates poverty, poverty deepens disease, and families trapped in that spiral can never escape unless we help. That's why we have made global health the top priority of the foundation. We're working to improve women's reproductive health. We're working to find more effective tools to fight diseases like TB and malaria. We're trying to distribute vaccines worldwide so children stop dying from diseases we've already cured. And we are dedicating the greatest share of our resources to stopping the global transmission of HIV/AIDS. As the focus of this event is on HIV/AIDS, and because HIV/AIDS is also the focus of so much of our work, I am going to center my remarks on that subject tonight.

Many people make the case that AIDS is an economic issue or a national security issue. That's alright with me. If we have to make that argument to get the public funds we need to fight disease, we should do it. But to me, this is not primarily an economic issue or a national security issue; this is a humanitarian issue. People are dying, and we can save them; and that ought to be enough.

People suffering from AIDS are human beings. They are not national security assets. They are not markets for our exports. They are not allies in the war against terrorism.

They are human beings who have infinite worth in their own right without any reference to us. They have mothers who love them and children who need them and friends who cherish them.

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