Matt Damon Visits Africa with DATA and ONE.ORG

Washington, D.C. — Academy Award winner Matt Damon recently returned from a listening and learning trip to Africa organized by Africa advocacy group DATA (debt AIDS trade Africa) and ONE. Damon focused his 6-day trip in Zambia where he observed firsthand how American funding to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty and international cooperation are saving and transforming lives in Africa.

“Matt is a smart guy who knows his stuff,” said Jamie Drummond, executive director of DATA. “We’re thrilled that Matt has joined with DATA and ONE to give a voice to the more than one billion people around the world living on less than one dollar a day.”

On his trip, Damon visited numerous sites demonstrating both the symptoms of and solutions to extreme poverty and global disease. Among the sites he visited were a micro credit program sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, an organic cotton farm sponsored by the African Development Foundation, as well as an HIV/AIDS clinic jointly funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

“To see so much hope from people who have so little made this an inspiring and life changing journey for me,” said Damon. “The promises America and other rich countries have made to Africa must be more than words. Those promises need to put hopeful children in school; help parents put roofs over the heads of their children; and get life saving AIDS medicines to the patients who need them now.”

In 2005, DATA arranged an Africa trip for ONE spokesperson Brad Pitt resulting in an ABC Primetime special on extreme poverty in Africa and facilitated the lobbying efforts of ONE spokesperson George Clooney at the G8 Summit in Scotland resulting in a doubling of aid to Africa.

ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally other Americans – ONE by ONE – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is a coalition of over 2 million supporters and 70 of America’s most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. For more information, please visit:www.ONE.org