HARRY BELAFONTE, UNICEF GOODWILL AMBASSADOR KEYNOTES ENVISION
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Harry Belafonte was the keynote speaker at the second annual "Envision: Addressing Global Issues through Documentaries" forum focusing on the UN’s Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education held on Saturday July 10th at TheTimesCenter in New York City.
Belafonte has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987, and is known worldwide for his accomplishments as a recording artist and concert singer, as an actor and producer, and for his commitment to human rights. He has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of children and has been a long-time champion of abolishing primary school fees in developing nations, reducing HIV/AIDS. Belafonte received the US National Medal for the Arts, and has been widely recognized for his humanitarian work.
During his remarks, Belefonte mentioned that he was involved in an educational mission many moons ago that brought Kenyan youth to the United States for education. Among those students was one Barack Obama Sr.
(Obama Sr. received a scholarship in economics through a program organized by nationalist leader Tom Mboya. The program offered Western educational opportunities to outstanding Kenyan students.[18][19][20] President Obama said of his father's scholarship, "The Kennedys decided: 'We're going to do an airlift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is. This young man named Barack Obama [Sr.] got one of those tickets and came over to this country.'"[21] An article by Michael Dobbs in The Washington Post, however, states that the Kennedy family did not become associated with the educational airlift until 1960, a year after Obama Sr. was studying in the United States. Initial financial supporters of the program included Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Jackie Robinson, and Elizabeth Mooney Kirk, a literacy advocate who provided most of the financial support for Obama Sr.'s early years in the United States, according to the Tom Mboya archives at Stanford University.[18])
http://www.unicef.org/people/people_harry_belafonte.html
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_19262.html
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_19264.html
http://www.envisionfilm.org/
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228427&id=585698688&l=b403403309
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