Building on his efforts to engage youth, U.S. Global Cultural Ambassador Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went "wheels up" from the heart of Afro-Brazil in Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.
"So far, I've really enjoyed Rio. I think it's a great city," Abdul-Jabbar said.
In Rio, Abdul-Jabbar started the day meeting with young people at the Rio em Forma Olimpico Project. While there, Abdul-Jabbar shared how education and English-language learning can propel young people to success.
"I had a wonderful time here today. I met a lot of really nice kids. They're very warm and open. I left them with a message and that is that education opens the door for opportunity," Abdul-Jabbar said.
From the Rio em Forma Olimpico Project, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar met with young people in the community of Alemao. With leaders from the NGO "CUFA" -- who work within the favelas… more »
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed 45 Brazilian Youth Ambassadors and two educators during their visit to the U.S. Department of State on January 25, 2012. The event marked the 10th Anniversary of the Youth Ambassadors Program with Brazil. Since 2002, students chosen from Brazil's public schools for their leadership and community service have visited the United States for a three-week exchange program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. During their meeting, Secretary Clinton recognized the role of youth in serving their communities. She also highlighted the United States'… more »
Today, Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar kicked off his service as a Global Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State in Salvador, Brazil.
"I didn't expect to see such a big city here in this part of Brazil. I heard about Rio de Janeiro and I've been to Sao Paulo on my first trip to Brazil. But I didn't know they had big cities out here on the coast. It's quite a place," said Abdul-Jabbar.
Meeting in a community center in the recently pacified favela, Nordeste de Amaralina, Abdul-Jabbar stressed the importance of education as a means of empowerment both within Brazil and beyond.
"It was very rewarding for me today to talk to the young people about their education because a lot of them didn't understand how important it is. So I was happy to remind them that their education will supplement everything that they try to… more »
In the enduring spirit of friendship and cooperation, the United States and Canada conducted their fourth joint mission to map the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean this past summer. The 2011 Arctic mission traversed more than 5,600 total miles and reached more than 1,230 miles north of the Alaskan coast. It marks the completion of a successful five-year collaboration between the United States and Canada to collect the scientific data necessary to determine the extent of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (referred to as the extended continental shelf) in the Arctic. Determining the extent of the continental shelf is important because a country has rights to manage and protect the resources of its continental shelf.
Collecting these data was not a trivial endeavor, especially in the Arctic's ice-covered waters. The 2011 joint mission spanned nearly… more »
Two years after the earthquake, Haiti is rebuilding not just brick by brick, but click by click.
The earthquake left behind a government in rubble, an economy in shambles, and a people living in makeshift camps, coping with enormous loss. Against this backdrop, the possibility of progress lives not just in the resilient spirit of the Haitian people, but also in the simple power of their mobile phones.
In June 2010, USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI). This program leveraged the private sector and the ubiquity of mobile phones to bring financial services to Haitians, 90 percent of whom didn't have… more »
Yesterday, Haiti commemorated two years since the earthquake of January 12, 2010. Those of us who went through the earthquake spent the day remembering the colleagues and loved ones we lost that afternoon and thanking God that we survived.
Today, we are back at work, and we look to the challenges that remain: half of the rubble created by the quake is still there, and more than 500,000 people still live in tents. The commitment of the U.S. government toward Haiti remains strong and, together with our international partners, we support the Haitian government's continued efforts to clear rubble, rebuild neighborhoods, and find long-term shelter for the displaced.
Most of Haiti's woes did not begin with the earthquake,… more »
The power of Haiti's heritage and its people is tremendous. For America, Haiti has held, and continues to hold, a unique and rich role in African-American history. Before and since the earthquake in 2010, Haiti has faced great challenges -- ones they are working to confront and to lead the international community in helping them solve. The U.S. government -- and the American people -- has had the privilege of being a steadfast partner in Haiti's efforts. As we approach the second anniversary of the 2010 earthquake, it is important to remember those who lost so much; and, to honor Haitians' unrelenting commitment to realize a more prosperous and stable nation by shining a light on some of the progress toward the great future they seek.
There is so much work still to be done -- by the government and people of Haiti, international partners, the private sector, and non-governmental… more »
One of the most exciting moments in my recent media tour of U.S. and UN food security projects in Honduras came in the middle of a lush vegetable field in the township of Las Pavas. Surrounded by lettuce, broccoli, carrots and radishes, Nora Diaz told me that thanks to their home garden, her family -- unlike many in Honduras -- was able to stay together.
As part of the USAID ACCESSO initiative that targets 18,000 poor rural households in Honduras, the Diaz family was given assistance in the form of training, fertilizer, seed, and irrigation that allowed them to grow better and more nutritious food for their family. It also allowed them to produce a surplus that can be sold to generate income. Thanks to this, Mr. Diaz did not need to leave his family in search of work in the city, or abroad.
Mario Corea Pineda has gone a step further. He is a small farmer… more »
Cooperativa Agricola Integral Mujeres Quatro Pinos (Integrated Women's Agricultural Cooperative) in the central highlands of Guatemala is a heartening example of what women can accomplish when they set their minds to it, work together and receive the necessary investment support.
I visited Quatro Pinos' vegetable production, processing, and marketing operation last month on a media tour of Guatemala as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations agencies in Rome.
In just six years, the cooperative has grown from a group of 35 women with small vegetable plots to a 350-member cooperative that manages 415 acres of land. Since the fall of 2010, they have quadrupled their production from 450,000 to 2 million pounds of vegetables. They grow snow peas, English peas, string beans, and mini carrots that they then process, package and export -- much to the… more »
Mr. Ford, I do not find your arguments persuasive. The putative rebel forces are reported to have armored personnel carriers and the Israeli DEBKAfile…
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Well, perhaps one can appreciate why we Americans reject federal militarization of our local police and joint task forces involving federal troops, Fusion…
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Feb. 13, 2012: Senior officials delivered remarks on the FY 2013 Department of State - USAID budget request. Watch for a replay at video.state.gov. More on Budget more »
Spokesperson Nuland (Feb. 10): "We will have more of this declassified U.S. national imagery available both on site in coming days but also on our new site www.stateondemand.com, where news organizations can find all of our content to pull down around the world. more »
![Views of the U.S.-Canada fourth joint mission to map the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean in August and September 2011. The 2011 joint mission employed the flagship icebreaker from each country, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL), with each ship performing different functions and one ship breaking ice for the other.[State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0123_arctic_m.jpg)
![A customer, left, signs up for mobile banking at a supermarket on March 3, 2011, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. [USAID photo by Kendra Helmer]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0117_haiti_mobile_money_m.jpg)
![Ambassador Kenneth H. Merten joins others for groundbreaking of Caracol Industrial Park in Haiti, November 2010. [USAID Photo/Kendra Helmer]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0113_merten_haiti_m.jpg)
![Seven-year-old Amelia bears a scar from where a concrete block struck her during the earthquake. She is a student at Ecole Marie Dominique Mazzarello in Port-au-Prince, which has classrooms built as part of the PHARE program of USAID. [Photo by Kendra Helmer/USAID]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0109_haiti_student_m.jpg)
![Small commercial vegetable farm where, through the USAID ACCESSO program, women are establishing and managing home gardens to produce vegetables for family consumption and to generate additional household income in La Paz, Honduras. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0106_honduras_farm_m.jpg)
