Elizabeth Henry, an Episcopal student at Davidson University, shares this story about her introduction to the Millennium Development Goals and What One Person (and One Group) Can Do Two things sparked my interest.

 First, I read Mountains Beyond Mountains about Paul Farmer and the work that he is doing with Partners in Health {http://www.pih.org/index.html}.

 Second, I initially found out about the MDGs when attending the One Table, Many Voices  http://www.onetableconference.org/} Conference in Washington, D.C. this June.

I didn't know there was an entire Christian social justice movement budding throughout the U.S. I have been involved in the Episcopal Church my whole life, from Happenings to diocesan conventions to Episcopal schools, but had not yet realized the scope of the church in peace and justice movements. I learned about the Episcopal Public Policy Network http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn/}, EGR, and a host of other wonderful organizations and efforts that are striving to raise attention to and work to eradicate extreme poverty. On the EPPN brochure that I received, I was reminded of our communal affirmation to the question concluding, and in my mind, summing up, the Baptismal Covenant: "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" and we joyfully answer that with God's help, we will!

At the conference, I met other Davidson students living in DC for the summer and interested in various social justice efforts. I gathered tons of material and inspiration to work to fight hunger and poverty. It was overwhelming and inspiring at the same time. I had no idea that so many people were deeply committed to activism and advocacy against poverty and that there were so many who were motivated out of faith.

 During the summer and early fall, a series of conversations about social justice took place on campus. Through those discussions, I met a core group of students who were passionate about issues of inequality in our world. We met and began to talk. Many of our conversations centered on faith and the charge of Christians to be concerned for humanity. Many conversations centered on the gross injustices of the structures and systems of the world. This ONE campaign  (http://www.one.org} group - we're a group of people but not an organized group - at Davidson is an intersection of people with different key interests - homelessness, hunger, immigration issues, education, trade equity, debt, development, and differing understandings of spirituality. The group truly is an amazing collection of compassionate individuals who provide support, inspiration, and challenge (the good kind). In Davidson's case, our story is about what ONE group can do.

The impetus for a ONE campaign effort on campus came from a woman who had worked in the UK this summer with the Make Poverty History campaign, and gathered a group of people to discuss the possibility of bringing the ONE campaign to Davidson. We brainstormed several ideas, and eventually decided to have a mini-Live Aid concert late in the semester (December 1st, actually, World AIDS day), inspired in part by the Live 8 concerts this summer surrounding the G8 summit. We

signed up for a slot with Live Thursdays, a weekly nighttime venue for student performance established by the student union, and planned to have a concert that raised awareness about the ONE campaign. We decided on a coffeehouse format featuring student performers, with breaks between the sets to present the MDGs, the ONE campaign, and federal budget. We had five student performers and a student emcee While students entered the room, we played a slideshow with pictures, statistics concerning the MDGs, issues targeted by the MDGs, and

quotes about the need for community and concern for others. The presentations were short (less than five minutes) and were designed to be a pain-free way to learn about the ONE campaign, the MDGs, and where our federal budget money goes while the artists were changing instruments and mike setups. We showed the Oxfam "Make Trade Fair" video clip, and we presented a short presentation on the federal budget (totally and shamelessly modeled on Ben Cohen's that can be found at www.truemajority.org). Using Ben Cohen's presentation as a guide, we used Oreo cookies to present the budget (1 oreo = 10 billion dollars), so we had Oreos as the snack of the coffeehouse. Oh, and "coffeehouse" is a relative term. We didn't really have coffee, but the bar was open for of-age students. At the back of the room, we had three laptops set up so that students could sign the ONE declaration online. Since we did the process electronically, we don't know how many people signed the declaration, but I would place a conservative estimate at 80 (not bad for a campus of 1700!) for the number of people who actually signed the declaration, and many more who attended the event. It was a success - a lot of people were interested in learning more!

We sent out an email shortly after the event with more information about organizations that were working with issues targeted by the Millennium Development Goals. We're in the middle of planning our next event, which will fall during the College's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week in late March. We hope to do a similar event with student performers, but with more emphasis on teaching about the MDGs and the efforts underway to achieve each one. In addition, we have a couple of group members preparing a "lesson plan" for a mini teach-in about the MDGs and the ONE campaign to present at organizational meetings in the week leading up to the event. We're also planning to have an Offering of Letters, which is created by Bread for the World (www.bread.org {}) as a tool for advocacy. This year, the 2006 letter writing campaign is entitled "One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty" {http://www.bread.org/take-action/letters-campaign/2006/ol-2006-brochure.html} and, as I understand, will focus on increasing financial support to help the world achieve the MDGs. We plan to have letter writing tables set up in the Union, to attend group meetings and educate members about the ONE campaign and the Offering of Letters, and to have student members of various area churches explain the purpose of the ONE campaign and man tables to increase awareness and advocacy among non-student members of our community, as well.

You can learn more about Eliizabeth's efforts at Davidson by emailing her at mailto:melhenry@davidson.edu%20a{mailto:elhenry@davidson.edu}.