President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Speaking Friday via prerecorded video at the close of an international conference dedicated to the disease, the two said they were committed to building upon progress and taking the lead in ensuring a sustainable and effective response.

“Ending this pandemic won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight,” Obama told delegates gathered in the Austrian capital. “But thanks to you, we’ve come a long way _ and the United States is committed to continuing that progress.”

Clinton said the United States believes access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care should be a universal and shared responsibility and said health was a human right.

“As we push to expand access to these resources, the United States will continue to work with our partner countries and with civil society to help empower citizens to lead the charge in their own countries,” she said.

Washington will host the next international AIDS conference in July 2012.

During this week’s meeting, the more than 19,000 delegates heard promising news about a vaginal gel spiked with the AIDS drug tenofir that has proved capable of blocking the AIDS virus.

They also welcomed an announcement by the World Health Organization that a record 5.2 million people were receiving lifesaving AIDS drugs last year, up from 4 million in 2008.

But the gathering was overshadowed by woes about replenishing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides major support for AIDS programs around the world.

Donors meet in October to decide on the fund’s financing level for the next three years amid concerns that a desired $20 billion in pledges won’t be reached.

While some protesters directly targeted the United States, a recent U.N. report showed that the U.S. was the largest donor of international AIDS assistance in 2009, accounting for more than 58 percent of disbursements by governments.

Conference chief Julio Montaner of the International AIDS Society said in his closing remarks that the United States has what it takes to make a difference and thanked Obama for his leadership in changing policies that infringe upon human rights.

“The U.S. has the power to literally change the course of the epidemic,” Montaner said.

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu of South Africa, meanwhile, stressed that HIV prevention, treatment, care and support are a human rights priority.

“To deny treatment is to deny life itself,” Tutu said in a video address.

Over the course of the week, activists have slammed the rich G-8 countries for failing to deliver on a commitment to ensure that everyone infected with HIV and AIDS gets treatment by 2010.

In 2005, G-8 leaders committed to developing and implementing an Africa-focused package for HIV prevention, treatment and care with the aim of getting “as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010.” They reaffirmed and broadened their commitment a year later.

But a G-8 accountability report from last month’s summit of world leaders in Canada acknowledged that the “universal access targets with respect to HIV/AIDS will not be met by 2010.”

Earlier Friday, the U.N.’s top investigator on torture and punishment warned delegates that overcrowded prisons are breeding grounds for AIDS.

Often, inmates are held in inhumane conditions in which the HIV virus is spread through the use of non-sterile drug injection equipment, sexual contacts, tattooing and sharing of razors, Manfred Nowak said.

Recycle bottles and cans

One neighbor reported that someone entered her yard during daylight and stole a bucket with all her recycle materials.

These are desperate times and people are looking to get fast cash.  Please be on alert and be careful.

Xavier University of Louisiana

A total of sixty-nine (69) Xavier graduates were accepted into medical and dental schools during the 2008-2009 academic year. The University is off to a good start for the 2009-10 academic year, as evidenced by the more than a dozen seniors who have already been accepted into medical schools.

“The distinction of leading the nation in placing so many deserving and talented young people into medical school is a clear indication of our commitment to academic success,” said Dr. Norman C. Francis, Xavier’s president. “There’s something special about Xavier,” he said. “Our faculty and staff take great pride in working with all students from the moment they enter as freshmen until the day when they graduate and enter their chosen professions. I’m convinced that the nurturing and academically challenging environment that we offer is a key factor in our continued leadership in not only the health professions, but in the wide range of academic disciplines that we offer.”

Xavier, the nation’s only Black & Catholic University has long enjoyed a solid reputation for its excellence in the biological and physical sciences. XU Pre-Med advisor JW Carmichael was individually recognized by Meharry Medical College with an honorary degree in 2008 for his role in helping to make Xavier the leader in African American medical school acceptances.

Xavier University, founded in 1925 by St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, maintains the distinction of being the only college or University in the United States that was founded by an American born saint of the Catholic Church. High school students interested in receiving more information on Xavier University are encouraged to visit www.xula.edu/admissions or by calling 504-520-7388 or 1-877-XAVIERU.

The New Orleans Agenda.com newsletter is the leading local alternative for information on News, Arts, Culture & Entertainment in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Region.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, 19 January 2010

It’s a place where women are raped so frequently it takes place in broad daylight, where gang members roam the narrow, stinking tented alleys with weapons, and where newly-orphaned street children fight over the odd piece of change handed out by aid workers stopping to take photos in front of the ruined palace.

At the President’s medal ceremony, there was talk of hope and progress. It was acknowledged that better performance was needed to deal with the aftermath of the disaster. But that was followed quickly with reminders of the scale of the tragedy and of the achievements made over the past six months.

Outside, nobody in the camp even knew the significance of the date, such is the day-to-day nature of existence for many here. Our friend Joel Joseph arrived in Champ de Mars on the first night after the quake. He had just watched his house collapse with his young daughter inside. He hasn’t worked for months, but he speaks four languages, in a small, sad voice that only gets louder when he’s asked about the international aid effort.

Joel says the lack of obvious progress has convinced many Haitians of conspiracy theories: that NGOs are paying families to stay in camps to prolong the emergency and receive more funding; that reconstruction and rubble-removal are on hold so the government can extract the maximum from international donors. “Even this isn’t for us,” he added, pointing to food distribution by Brazilian peacekeepers just meters from where foreign media were gathered for the medal ceremony. “They haven’t done this here for months, why today? They pretend to help us, but the truth is we’re not receiving any help at all.”

During my six months in Haiti, I have seen an aid effort proceed on an uneven course – from its problematic inception, to successes in disease prevention, and back to somewhere in between. As the UN Mission Chief Edmond Mulet and others freely admit, the sense of urgency has been lost here. That might sound hard to believe when there are more than 1.5 million living in squalid camps, exposed to the elements with extreme weather on the way, but it’s true.

And for most Haitians, the failures of the aid effort are more obvious than its successes. The fact that in six months only 5,500 storm proof shelters have been built in the entire country, the huge rise in assaults on women in the camps, the rubble spilling out over every neighbourhood, a city which still looks much the same as it did in the days just after the quake…

Perhaps it’s a little early to be giving out medals?

Arizona's other Immigrant conflict: Africans vs African Americans

“When I came to the country, I saw African Americans as my brothers,” said Dere, a small-business owner. “I was laughing with joy to see them. But every time I talk to them, rejection, rejection—every time. After awhile I felt like, why should I even talk to them?”

Dere is resigned to the cultural split, but is also frustrated by it. As a middle-aged member of the sandwich generation, attending both to children in high school and college and to his elderly mother, he feels he has much to share with his American brothers. A former community case worker, he is deeply familiar with the strain black families face, especially in this recession, squeezed by household demands from both ends of the age scale.

He believes, though, that his accent and a sense of superiority among some African Americans erect barriers to communication and undermine the potential for mutual support. Research published by Arizona State University (ASU) reinforces and echoes Dere’s experience.

Two Different Paths

Africans make up a small but growing part of the black population in metro-Phoenix, which limits opportunities for interaction. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, “foreign-born Africans” number around 18,500 in Maricopa County, or 10.8 percent of the area’s black population. The refugee population in Arizona is much smaller, although that figure more than doubled from 2006 to 2009, to 4,327, according to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

In a 2008 supplemental report entitled “The State of Black Arizona, Volume I,” ASU associate professor Lisa Aubrey and colleagues found that many African Americans hold new arrivals “responsible” for their ancestral enslavement and “correlate Africa . . . with poverty and feel ashamed.” Aubrey and her coauthors call today’s African Americans “old diasporans,” descendants of slaves and other earlier African arrivals. The scholars refer to modern continental Africans, including refugees who fled strife in their countries, as “new diasporans.”

Extremely different paths to settlement in Arizona, combined with dissonance within each group, pose challenges for African Americans seeking to build bridges between old diasporan and new diasporan communities. New diasporans in metro Phoenix hail from many parts of Africa, including Liberia, Somalia, Rwanda and Sudan.

Elders from both old and new diasporan communities confront complex issues that will impact their quality of life and that of their descendants for generations to come. While African Americans face myriad health challenges, African immigrants also run into barriers of transportation and isolation, which impede their social and emotional health.

“People are too busy with life, no one is interested in reaching out to African communities,” said Abraham Reech, a senior case manager at Lutheran Social Ministries, a Phoenix area refugee resettlement agency. “There is no reason, no incentive.”

“There is a lack of communication,” said Tap Dak, outreach coordinator for the AZ Lost Boys Center, which serves the Sudanese community of metro Phoenix. He said differences in religion, ideology and politics among African immigrants and refugees often lead to misconceptions between different ethnicities, despite their similar experience and mutual concerns.

Dak added, “The (African) community doesn’t have dialogue within itself.”

Recent African arrivals in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun often possess starkly different experiences, expectations and outlooks on America—and on each other, ASU’s Aubrey noted, Along with refugees seeking political asylum, the immigrants include “some of the most highly educated, professionally skilled and accomplished Africans from the continent,” she said.

Preconceived ideas about other ethnic groups often lead to rifts.

Reech, who is Sudanese, recalled an instance when African neighbor—like Reech, a recent immigrant—forbade his son to associate with Reech’s son. Reech believes that the father didn’t want his son to associate with black people, whether African or African American — even though he was also black. He said this is a common reaction among immigrants, who wish to avoid negative associations with African Americans.

“My son was on the principal’s list,” Reech said, shaking his head in exasperation. “What would make the father think that way?”

Little Interaction Among Immigrants

Charles Shipman, Arizona’s refugee coordinator, acknowledged that there is little interaction among the newer African immigrant groups. He attributes the problem less to outright antagonism than to a sense of competition.

During his eight years of working with refugees, Shipman said, he has seen collaborative efforts between African immigrant groups quickly collapse when discussions turn to pursuing funds.

But the situation is improving, Shipman added. “Organizations are starting to understand that mutual assistance is about mutual assistance. They are starting to come together,” he said.

African Americans around Phoenix also constitute a diverse population, including Valley natives and recent arrivals from other states. In many instances, a shared ancestry with African immigrants is not enough to promote intercultural connections.

Outreach Efforts

“Refugee assistance is all about outreach, and there is not a lot of outreach from the African American community,” noted Eman Yarrow, a community and economic development manager for the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program.

Yarrow cited First Institutional Baptist Church and the Light of Hope Institute as faith-based organizations particularly committed to aiding refugee families. “Resettlement agencies need to do a better job—talk to larger churches about supporting smaller immigrant churches.”

For example, First Institutional invited Kigabo Mbazumutima, a doctor from Benin, to speak at its 2010 Community Health Forum and share his experiences growing up in the Congo.

Mbazumutima is working with ASU faculty to improve health care access to the Great Lakes region of Africa, and the mostly African American attendees at the forum showed interest in volunteering and making donations. He and event organizers hope that by providing access to resources, such as the church facility, established groups in the African American community in Phoenix will foster cultural understanding and the greater acceptance that new diasporan communities need to flourish in this desert region.

This article is third in a three-part series for PhxSoul.com created for New America Media’s Ethnic Elders News Fellowship with support from The Atlantic Philanthropies. Read Parts 1 and 2.

Chivas USA’s team at the SUM U-17 Cup is made up primarily of players who have just finished the Development Academy season with either the club’s U-16 or U-18 Teams. Among those players are several standouts from the recently-ended 2009-10 season, including a pair of defenders who were selected to the Development Academy U-16 West Conference Starting XI, in Alexis Flores and Marcial Cazares.

Cazares was also selected to the Starting XI for the entire 77-team league.   In other youth news, Chivas USA U-18 defender Bryan de la Fuente, who is too old to participate at the U-17 Cup, was one of 18 players selected by United States Under-20 National Team head coach Thomas Rongen for the upcoming Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. One of the most popular youth national trips, the Milk Cup is a prestigious tournament that will provide the U.S. with three international games against China on July 26, Denmark on July 28 and an opponent to be determined in a placement match on July 30. De la Fuente is coming off an excellent seasion with the Chivas USA U-18’s, where he was selected to the Development Academy U-18 Starting XI.
Chivas USA travels to face Real Salt Lake this Saturday, July 24, at 7:00 p.m. PT in a match that will be broadcast live on Prime Ticket, KWHY and W Radio. The Red-and-White will then return home to face the Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center on Saturday, July 31. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit cdchivasusa.com.

The event also helped raise awareness of the blind and demonstrate that they can overcome physical limitations and enjoy sports activities such as soccer.    An added treat for the children was a special appearance by Chivas USA Goalkeeper Zach Thornton and the team’s popular mascot, the ChivaFighter. Both were on hand to support the children and to teach them soccer skills.

World Access for the Blind is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to facilitate the self-directed achievement of blind people. To date, they have worked with over 1,000 students in 15 countries worldwide. World Access for the Blind is known for their No Limits attitude. They do not settle for the minimum requirements of functioning but rather believe that the blind are capable of anything and everything. To learn more about the organization or to make a donation to support the soccer clinic, you can check out their website at worldaccessfortheblind.org or visit their facebook page at facebook.com/worldaccessfortheblind.

cdchivasusa.com

The Hon. Peter Bunting, (right) Member of Parliament for Central Manchester in Jamaica and General Secretary for the Opposition PNP in Jamaica receives the Glasspole Cooke Award for Achievement at the 26th Annual Jamaica National Movement Awards & Dinner in New York City. Others in photo are L-R Horace Thomas president of JNM and Desmond Clarke, vice-president. Mr Bunting was the keynote speaker at this year's gala last Saturday in Queens, NY. While here, Mr Bunting connected with hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans on his short trip, undertaking a grueling schedule of press interviews with Diaspora media in New York City, South Florida, Atlanta, New Jersey, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

General Secretary of the People’s National Party – Honorable Peter Bunting was the keynote speaker at 26th annual awards dinner dance of the Jamaica National Movement – The event took place on Saturday, July 17, 2010 in Queens, New York.   CaribPress caught up with this multifaceted politician and businessman via telephone, and we are pleased to share his insights on the dynamic situation with the “Dudus Affair”, as well as his assessment of the impact of the global economic downturn on his constituents.

CPress: In your opinion, what are the lessons learned on handling this dynamic situation with the “Dudus Affair” from a government standpoint?

Hon. PB: Well, I think first of all there was absolutely inappropriate, improper and in my opinion, corrupt interference in the law enforcement process.

We received thousands of extradition requests from the United States every year and they are handled in a particular way.  First of all, they are dealt with in secret, so the subject of the extradition is not tipped off until the warrant of arrest is being executed.  They are usually not subjected to the political interference; they are handled by the officers of the justice department or our attorney generals or director of public prosecution departments or by our police officers.  Politicians should really stay away from interfering in this process.  It has caused a great deal of mistrust with the political officials involved, the prime minister, the minister of justice and the minister of national security.  It has, I think, tainted Jamaica’s image internationally.  We appear to be a country that governs by the rule of law, but operate based on a country that was very good for business if you were in organized crime.

CPress: What are you hearing from your constituents in Central Manchester on the challenges they are facing?

Hon. PB: The main concern is the recession.  We have been impacted by the global recession.  Particularly the reduction in demand for commodities such as aluminum and that has caused the closure of two processing plants in our area, which were major employers.  Therefore, that has really hit the economy of our constituencies.  Unemployment is a big issue now.  While the entire country is in a recession, we are probably in a deeper recession because of the specific impact on the bauxite and our industry.  As I said, we do not have tourism and the economic diversification like some of the other parishes.

CaribPress: Tell our Readers about the parish that you represent.

Honorable Peter Bunting: I represent Central Manchester, which is the Central Southern part of Jamaica.  My constituents are on a 2,000 feet high plateau.  It is quite cool and that’s probably why it was named Manchester after the English kind of weather we have there most of the time.  It’s where most of the bauxite, mining and processing have taken place in Jamaica.  And it also is the home of Northern Caribbean University, one of the three primary universities in Jamaica.  Manchester is not typically considered a tourist destination, but it is a very popular place for returning residents.  It is real pretty, cool, low crime and quite a pleasant environment for living.  We have one of the oldest golf courses in the hemisphere that was built in the 19th century [Manchester Golf Club was founded in 1868 and is the first golf course in the Caribbean].  So, there are a few interesting features to the community. 

CPress: You have a very multifaceted career as a mechanical engineer and businessman.  How did you make the transition to government and politics?

Hon. PB: I have always been drawn to politics.  My father was not involved in politics at an electoral level.  But he was always fascinated and involved with it at some level.  I think he always talked to me about politicians and public service and those he admired.  So I think from an early age, as young as a teen-ager, I started going to political meetings.  It was a time of very charismatic leadership in Jamaica – Michael Manley was the prime minister.  He was really very inspirational and charismatic.  I had the opportunity to be exposed to Michael Manley.  After coming back from University, at one point I actually worked for him.  And that was inevitable my entry into the representation of politics.  “It was my exposure to then Prime Minister Michael Manley (and leader of the people’s national party) that transitioned what was an interest into a commitment to be a part of the political process.  Prime Minister Michael Manley was a mentor for me.”

CPress: What is the latest on the situation, specifically the violence that was ongoing in West Kingston?

Hon. PB: First I must tell you that as the opposition spokesman on national security, I was really in the vanguard of the group of opposition and civil society organization that brought pressure on the government.  You would recall for nine months they [the government] equivocated and attempted to frustrate the extradition request for Christopher “Dudus” Coke.  We really led the charge and were joined by the umbrella group of churches and many of the private sector organizations and NGO’s.  In fact – in the end – calling for Prime Minister Bruce Golding to resign for having put his individual interest, this alleged drug lord who had close ties to the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) and to the prime minister’s own constituency, for putting his interest ahead of the rest of the nation.  I have been one of the most strident voices in parliament and in public pressuring the government, when the prime minister finally capitulated and signed the authority to proceed with the extradition and end the operation at Tivoli and subsequent apprehension and extradition of Coke.

What we have now seen in the ensuing 6-7 weeks is a dramatic reduction in murder and crime rate generally in Jamaica, particularly in the murder rate.  In June the murder rate was down by 30 percent.  In July, month to date, it is down by over 50 percent.  That is obvious that Coke, The Shower Posse and their headquarters in Tivoli Gardens was a substantial center of influence for organized crime in Jamaica.  The operation and removal of Coke and the operation to degrade the capacity for violence in Tivoli Gardens has really had a beneficial effect across the entire country.

CPress: How do you describe the mood of the country today?

Hon. PB: I would say the country is at a crossroads, a watershed period.  The mood is hopeful.  There is a sense of assertiveness of the broader civil society to hold the government accountable and to raise the bar for accountability by our leaders.  I think there is a momentum in that direction.  And if that sustains, I think the term outlook would be great for Jamaica overall.

CPress: How do you define your responsibilities with the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ)?

Hon. PB: We really are responsible for supervising the electoral system in Jamaica.  Jamaica historically had some challenges to do with the elections and confrontation during election time.  During the late 1970’s, an agreement was arrived at by two parties to form the commission to really work towards a more perfect electoral system.  And it has made tremendous advances over the last three decades – To the point where we are looked at as a standard electoral organization in the Central American and Caribbean region.  We are often used to provide technical advice to some of the other organizations.

CPress: What major issues or current issues is the commission working on?

Hon. PB: The major issue that we are working on is political party financing and the elements related with political party financing.  Looking at campaign financing, looking at disclosure, looking at whether there should be term limits, state funding to some degree – These are the issues that we are dealing with now.

CPress: If you were advising a young person just starting out in his or her career, what advice would you offer?

Hon. PB: I would tell them to try and do work that they are passionate about.  Then it never will feel like work.  It will be like you are being paid to do something which you would do for free.

CPress: What obstacles have you faced or do you expect to face in your career?

Hon. PB: I have been very fortunate and have had many opportunities for leadership at a relatively young age. I have had challenges, but nothing that would stand out as being an obstacle.  I have been successful at all the electoral contests that I have participated in.  I have been fairly successful in all my business ventures. I know there have been challenges and roadblocks along the way, but nothing so significant.

CPress: What’s next for Hon. Peter Bunting?

Hon. PB: Right now I am the Executive Officer for the party [People’s National Party].  I run the party on a day-to-day basis.  I run the party secretarial.  I am in charge of political organization.  Therefore, my next major goal is to prepare the party for the upcoming general election, which is due in another two years.  They will be on an election alert.  There was a poll done a month or two ago that shows our party [People’s National Party] ahead of the government quite substantially, leading 2:1 actually.  We have to hold a steady course and make sure that the things we are doing right are continued and shape up on those that need improving.