"We are the first generation that can look extreme poverty in the eye, and say this and mean it—we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science. Do we have the will to make poverty history?" (Rock star Bono)

2005 started with a natural disaster of biblical proportion: the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of South Asia. Equally amazing was the outpouring of compassion of the American public, which donated record sums to organizations like Oxfam that delivered emergency assistance to victims of the disaster and helps them rebuild their livelihoods.

Will compassion stop there? There is a silent tsunami hitting the world—particularly Africa—every week.

• Every week, 27,000 people die from lack of potable water
• Every week, 60,000 people die from AIDS
• Every week, 204,000 children die from hunger, AIDS, water-borne diseases and other preventable causes—that is one child every three seconds, the time to click your fingers.

2005 is the year to make poverty history. At the G8 meeting in July, the UN Millennium Development Goals summit in September, and the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in December, world leaders will gather to discuss ways to eradicate extreme poverty. At these meetings, the ONE campaign will be pushing to:

• Increase US aid for health, education, clean water, and other basic needs;
• Cancel the poorest countries' debts and fight corruption,
• Reform unfair trade rules.

We can afford to make poverty history. The fair US share of a global effort would come at just ONE additional percent of the federal budget.

The ONE Campaign is engaging Americans everywhere we gather—in churches and synagogues, on the internet and college campuses, at community meetings and concerts. ONE is promoted with the help of a diverse coalition of faith-based and anti-poverty groups, celebrity spokespeople, and corporate partnerships. It is also working in cooperation with similar alliances in over 40 other countries.

Join this global movement by signing the ONE declaration, and join Oxfam's e-community to be updated about the campaign. Commit yourself to make poverty history!