It is getting and will get virtually no real coverage in the mainstream media, but it is a story that no one should miss, and one that was told today by President George W. Bush in an address at the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. Full text and video is at the White House website.

America is on a mission of mercy. We’re treating African leaders as equal partners. We expect them to produce measurable results. We expect them to fight corruption, and invest in the health and education of their people, and pursue market-based economic policies. This mission serves our security interests — people who live in chaos and despair are more likely to fall under the sway of violent ideologies. This mission serves our moral interests — we’re all children of God, and having the power to save lives comes with the obligation to use it.

This mission rarely makes headlines in the United States. But when you go to Africa, it is a visible part of daily life — and there’s no doubt that our mission is succeeding. You see it when you hold a baby that would have died of malaria without America’s support. You see it when you look into the eyes of an AIDS patient who has been brought back to life. You see it in the quiet pride of a child going to school for the first time. And you see that turning away from this life-changing work would be a cause for shame.

[...]

At the clinic, we visited with a man and woman who learned they had HIV while they were dating — but went on to get treatment, get married, and have a little baby boy who is HIV-free. We saw many others who have new hope because of PEPFAR — including a 9-year-old girl who is HIV-positive. She was smiling at the clinic with her grandmother, because — sitting at the clinic with her grandmother because her mom and dad had died of AIDS. For the past year, Catholic Relief Services has been paying for the girl to receive treatment at the clinic. And I want to tell you what her grandmother said: “As a Muslim, I never imagined that a Catholic group would help me like that. I am so grateful to the American people.”

[...]

And so throughout our trip, Laura and I were overwhelmed by the outpouring of warmth and affection for the American people. Again and again, we heard the same words: “Thank you.” Thank you for sparing lives from malaria and HIV/AIDS. Thank you for training teachers and bringing books to schools. Thank you for investing in infrastructure and helping our economies grow. Thank you for supporting freedom. And thank you for caring about the people of Africa.

Americans should feel proud, mighty proud, of the work we’re doing in Africa. At every stop, I told people that the source of all these efforts is the generosity of the American people. We are a nation of compassionate and good-hearted folks. We recognize the extraordinary potential of Africa. In schoolchildren waving flags on dusty roadsides, to nurses caring for their patients at busy clinics, to artisans selling their products in scorching heat, we saw people who have been given great challenges — and responded to them with clear eyes and big hearts.

In Rwanda, a school teacher was discussing the fight to eradicate malaria and AIDS with her class. And she explained her attitude this way: “It can happen here.” With those words, she summed up the new spirit of Africa: confident and determined and strong.

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