25 May 2001

Transcript: Secretary Powell Visits Hope Village in South Africa

Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Hope Village, an AIDS treatment center in Soweto, May 25, where he was able to see how South Africa is coping with the pandemic that is sweeping the continent. He was also able to gauge how U.S. aid to Africans battling the disease was being used. After the visit he spoke to the press.

Following is the transcript of Powell's remarks:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

May 25, 2001

Press Availability by U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell

Hope Village, Hope Worldwide
Pretoria, South Africa

Ambassador Lewis: Welcome Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mrs. Powell to visit with you and to get first hand information on the great work that you are doing here. I'd like to introduce to the community our delegation here.

First of all, our Secretary of State of the United States, Colin Powell and I will introduce also, Mrs. Powell who is accompanying him and my good friend and partner, Mrs. Lewis, Gayle Lewis. If you can hold your applause until the last of the names and we'll give them a round of applause after I call their names. Certainly I would like to introduce the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Nancy Powell; Assistant Secretary of State and Spokesman for the Department of State, Richard Boucher; Ambassador Andrew Natsios who is Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Jendayi Frazier, Director for African Affairs, National Security Council, and Vice Admiral Walter Doran, assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Craig Kelly, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State; and also a former Congressman from California who is very active in HIV/AIDS and many other social issues, Ron Dellums. Before I sit down I'd like to say we are very pleased that on the Secretary's trip that Ambassador Modise, chief of protocol of DFA is accompanying us.

Thank you again for allowing us to share in your work and to (inaudible) and all of the projects dealing with HIV/AIDS in Soweto. It is always a pleasure for us to be here. The United States Government stands ready to assist. One of the reasons that Secretary of State Powell is here is to show the support of the Bush Administration on many issues confronting Africa and South Africa and he is definitely interested in how the United States can help on HIV and AIDS. And so I will sit and say thank you again for receiving us, we look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you how we can keep that momentum going on dealing with the issue of HIV and AIDS. Thank you very much.

(inaudible) To express our appreciation and honor on behalf of the Department of Health and our partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS for this prestigious, high-profile visit from the Secretary of State and this entourage. I want to believe that the entourage found this particular visit productive indeed. My thanks goes again to the organizers of this beautiful event for having arranged it so expeditiously. May I this day allow Mr. Powell to address South Africa.

Secretary Powell: Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to be here this morning, and I too would like to thank everybody who helped put the event together. My wife and I were deeply moved by the Village of Hope reception and the great things we heard and to see so many people committed to doing something about this terrible disease which is causing such devastation throughout the world, but especially in sub-Saharan Africa. I came away from the briefings with a strong understanding of the comprehensive nature of the work that must be done to deal with this disease. It is a health care problem but it is also a problem of poverty, it is also a problem of the environment, it is also a problem of family culture, it is also a problem that requires engagement from the government and non-profit organizations, from voluntary organizations -- the entire community coming together. I was deeply impressed in the way in which the communities within Soweto are being organized and brought together to understand that this is a problem that the community has to, in the first instance, deal with through education, through teaching a new generation of youngsters how to protect themselves, how to defend themselves against this disease. To show compassion to those who have been sickened with this disease and also to have (inaudible) ways to deal with the children who have been made homeless, who have been made orphans by this disease.

It is also well understood here, and I come away with a strong understanding of the need for economic development. You have to give people who are suffering with this disease hope that they still have a role to play in this society. That they can still contribute to this society. That they are still deserving of all that this society has to offer. And so I would like to thank all of the dedicated workers here, the people who have done so much for their fellow South Africans in Soweto and for all others who are working on this problem throughout South Africa and throughout the world. And we take this opportunity to once again commit President Bush and the American Government to doing everything we can through the United States Agency for International Development, through the work of our very distinguished Ambassador, Ambassador Lewis, for what he has done.

This is work that will continue [with] the new Ambassador when that person arrives here in due course. And I just want the people here at the Village of Hope and throughout South Africa to know that United States views this as a priority working with South Africa and other governments in sub-Saharan Africa to do everything we can to deal with HIV/AIDS and the other diseases that are related to HIV/AIDS. President Bush's commitment to the new global trust fund is just one piece of evidence for our commitment; one piece of evidence to show that we are doing a lot and do a lot more. And so I just want to leave this message of hope here at the Village of Hope and I thank all who helped put this day together.

Question: (inaudible) will the United States

Secretary Powell: We will do whatever we can. I don't know that I can answer that question specifically. But we will do everything we can and that was the message I want to leave here with.

Question: (inaudible)

Secretary Powell: All I know is that HIV is the cause of AIDS -- I think we all agree with that. The scientific community agrees with that and now we need to move forward on that understanding and that premise. Thank you.

end transcript