Surafel Eshetu statement (5th grade student at ECF) Danny Glover statement Kenenisa Bekele statement Berhane Adere statement NEWS 25 November 2004 I want to express the joy and pride I feel to be with you this afternoon. I want to commend my fellow goodwill ambassadors Berhane and Kenenisa for their strength and unflinching participation, not only in their own lives but in the lives of youth and children, not only here but around the world. I want to once again commend the children who participated [in the drama presentations.] It was very courageous of them to stand in front of us and perform not only for us but also for their fellow classmates. What they exhibited in that performance was something extraordinary which will in some ways be a bridge for their own success as they continue in life. What I saw in them were five basic elements of being successful. One is discipline. The other is concentration. One is passion and the other is faith, in themselves and also perseverance to try again and work hard and when one fails, to get back up and work even harder. We have all become successful - we all have done what we have done in our lives because of that. It would take the same elements – those same truths – as we move forward and as we fight this extraordinary pandemic that has not only affected the children and men and women of Africa but afflicts children and men and women all over the world. And we are the ones who have to respond to it. Our history, of all us, our history as adults, our history as children, will be determined by how we come to terms with this and how we fight and how hard we fight and how passionately we fight. And this fight comes out of all those things. And in addition to this is our love – love of ourselves and love of our communities and love of our brothers and our sisters. They are our brothers and our sisters. And love is what is most instrumental as we deal with that. And respect. Respect and love are the key to all of our growth – and the whole human experience of growth has been one of respect and love. Without that we don’t grow. Without that we don’t flourish. Without that we don’t get to the future. So you are here to be a part of that – as an extension of that. You are an extension of that. I am a son. I am a father. And I am a grandfather. And because of all that and because of all the nurturing that has been given to me – that is how I stand here in front of you. That is what enabled me to stand in front of you and be with you today. You have to take all of that into consideration. You are a grandchild, you are a daughter or a son, and you have to use all of that energy to move forward in your life to fight all of those things which would keep you from moving forward in your life – and to honour those things that will help you move forward in your life. That is the message that I give to you. That is the message that goes beyond this community. It goes beyond my community. It is a message that goes to all of us as human beings. We once, all of us, sat in the same situation you are in. [But] when I grew up and others grew up we did not have the pandemic. The choices that we had were different. You have this to fight. But you must know that in your fight, as you give leadership and voice and creative energy and passion and love to that, we as adults will be there with you. We will march with you and we will all march and we will all fight to defeat this thing. Thank you.