GUEST COLUMNIST: Heart of Colorado's community steps foward to race with Rwandans
To those who have little faith in Africa’s future — I challenge you to reflect on Rwanda’s progress and reconsider.
Sixteen years ago, the people of Kibali, Rwanda, were running for their lives, hoping to escape the mass genocide that claimed over 800,000 lives. On Saturday, Rwandan men, women and children participating in this year’s Run for Rwanda will race together with runners in Colorado Springs toward a common goal: raising $20,000 for the completion of Kilbali Parish’s clinic.
Minutes before the race begins at 8:00 a.m. at Cottonwood Creek Park, the Kibali team will connect by phone with fellow runners gathered at a starting line half-way around the world, in my hometown of Colorado Springs. The two groups, separated by 9,000 miles but united in their determination to bring medical care to those who desperately need it, will start their 5k race together.
In the last two years, the Colorado Springs runners participating in the International Anglican Church’s Run for Rwanda have raised more than $30,000 for the clinic’s dispensary, urgent care, and maternity wards. The clinic provides for the safe delivery of hundreds of newborns and the treatment of many patients who otherwise would have gone untreated. Donations for this year’s race will help fund completion of the HIV/AIDS ward. For a community like Kibali, where severely limited health care offers only one doctor for every 50,000 people, our donations matter. Every dollar raised makes a difference and saves lives.
However, while this local race and the contributions it generates have a huge impact, we can do more — we should do more — to highlight the extraordinary impact our national investments have on communities like Kibali. The United States has long been a leader in providing assistance to the world’s poorest, and we must see to it that America’s generosity continues to transform and save lives. With tight budgets and limited resources, it’s more important than ever to advocate for smart, accountable solutions that deliver tangible results measured in actual lives saved.
With Colorado’s primaries happening this month, and our own mid-term elections right around the corner, voters have already begun to ask the candidates what they will do to ensure Coloradans will be safe, employed and healthy. We should also reach out to our local candidates and encourage them to support programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria, which have saved more than four million lives in the world’s poorest communities — and done so efficiently.
Hoping to jump-start this important conversation, the ONE Campaign has launched “ONE Vote 2010” in Colorado, a nonpartisan effort to raise awareness of America’s leadership in the fight against global poverty and disease with candidates and voters alike. Working with groups like ONE, we should push our candidates to ask Washington to continue America’s leadership and affordable commitments to communities like Kibali, which need our help more than ever.
Coloradans have always stepped forward to help the less fortunate, whether it is in the local community or abroad. This year is no exception. A record number of Coloradans will lace up August 7 to run with their partners in Rwanda, and the money they raise will save lives. In these difficult times for many families here at home, this is a testament to the generosity and heart of our community. Long after the dust from this race has settled, I’m confident Coloradans and the candidates who represent them will continue to lead the fight to provide the world’s poorest with access to vaccines, maternity care and life-saving medical care. It’s right; it’s smart; it’s who we are.
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Dr. Regina Hopewell is Complementary Interventions Ministry Director at Compassion International in Colorado Springs. Hopewell’s e-mail: rhopewell@us.ci.org.
