Latest news with #TheCarterCenter
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Jimmy Carter's Grandson Reveals How Bond with 'Second Mother' Miss Rachel Had a Ripple Effect on Women's Rights (Exclusive)
President Jimmy Carter fought during his presidency to champion equal rights, a mission that was shaped by his special bonds with important women in his early life, including one key figure: a woman named Rachel Clark, or "Miss Rachel." Jimmy's grandson, Jason Carter, reflects on the early influences that fueled his grandfather's tireless fight for women's rights in a letter shared exclusively with PEOPLE. Jason, a former Georgia state senator who now serves as chair of The Carter Center, honors the late president's legacy of advocating for women as part of "Letters to the Daughters of the World by the Leaders of the World," a project founded by activist, journalist and author Supriya Vani. Related: Jimmy Carter's Life in Photos Jason is one of many public figures who contributed inspiring stories to Vani's project at her request, including the Dalai Lama, Ireland's first woman president Mary Robinson, and business magnate Richard Branson. The initiative is a call to action aimed to inspire leadership and compassion in future generations of women across the globe, and it will provide a foundation for Vani's upcoming book. In his contribution to Vani's "moral archive," Jason tells the story of how Jimmy's early life as a child in the Deep South influenced his work on equal rights initiatives — and how women made an indelible impact on the future president's worldview. Read Jason Carter's full letter about the late President Jimmy Carter below, from "Letters to the Daughters of the World." Related: All About Jimmy Carter's Humble Life Before Politics, Which Set the Stage for His Decades of Public Service Imagine growing up in the Deep South of the United States at a time when racial apartheid was the law of the land and the edict of most Christian churches. This was the world that my great-grandmother Lillian Carter knew as a child and young adult. Despite her husband's seeming acceptance of racist attitudes, Miss Lillian, as she was known, believed and behaved as if all people were equal in God's eyes. As a nurse, she treated all her patients with the same high level of care. She interacted with Black neighbors and Black workers on the family farm with kindness and generosity. Later in life, she became a Peace Corps volunteer in India, serving as a nurse to some of the most disadvantaged people in that country. This defiance of racist social norms planted in the heart and mind of my grandfather Jimmy Carter, Miss Lillian's eldest son, a love for justice and equality toward all. He adopted his mother's belief that every person is a noble child of God. Growing up, he spent more time in the home of Rachel Clark, a Black woman who worked and lived on the family farm, than with his own mother who worked long hours tending to the sick. He cherished Miss Rachel as a second mother and took her instruction on many life lessons. Miss Julia Coleman, his high school superintendent, also influenced his worldview, impressing upon him the idea that, even in changing times, we must hold fast to the principles of truthfulness and justice. He went on to marry Rosalynn Smith, a fiercely independent woman who also carried these values, later becoming one of the world's great advocates for mental health care. All these women shaped the man who would become the 39th President of the United States. During those years, he championed women's rights and appointed more women to the federal judiciary and to top-level positions than any previous President. Related: In One of His Final Interviews, Jimmy Carter Looked Back at His Life's Work and Having Rosalynn by His Side (Exclusive) Throughout the following decades, my grandfather would use every opportunity through books and speeches to point out how the oppression of women, especially through the edicts of male religious authorities, continues to plague humanity. He called on his fellow men to change attitudes, conduct, and policies and encouraged women and girls to take leadership in the fight for equality. I am the proud father of two wonderful boys, Henry and Thomas, the great-grandsons of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. My wife Kate and I know that educating our boys to become the best men they can be is our most important responsibility. My grandfather taught us that our duty is to use our power and influence to work for equal rights and opportunities for all. We cannot be bystanders when violence against women persists in all societies or when women are excluded from the decision-making bodies that affect their lives. Related: All About Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter's Children and Grandchildren In recent years, we have seen a renewed movement led by women and girls to confront sexual violence and assert their rightful role as leaders in all fields of endeavor. This has been incredibly encouraging. While there have been heartbreaking setbacks in women's rights, from Afghanistan to our own country, I know that my grandparents would urge us to not be discouraged but to keep advancing. They would remind us that every worthy fight for freedom experiences setbacks. No matter what, this movement will surely continue to grow until every girl born into this world can imagine and then achieve the future that she dreams for herself. All humanity will benefit from the realization of this great potential in human talent that has for too long gone suppressed. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jason Carter rules out 2026 bid for governor as wife battles brain cancer
The Brief Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, says he will not seek office in 2026 due to his wife Kate's diagnosis of glioblastoma. Kate Carter, a teacher and entrepreneur, is undergoing treatment for the aggressive brain cancer; the couple has two teenage sons. Jason Carter, a former state senator and 2014 gubernatorial candidate, now leads The Carter Center and practices law in Atlanta. ATLANTA - Former Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter said he has no plans to seek the 2026 nomination because of his wife's cancer diagnosis. "For all intents and purposes, I can't imagine making a decision to run because it's the wrong time for my family," Carter, 49, told The Associated Press on Monday. What we know Carter also told The Associated Press that he is "not going to endorse anybody," but that he was "very excited" that Sen. Jason Esteves has announced that he is in the running for governor in 2026. RELATED: Sen. Jason Esteves announces campaign for governor of Georgia Katharine "Kate" Lewis Carter has glioblastoma, a highly malignant and aggressive form of brain cancer. Treatment typically involves surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Jason Carter did not reveal any additional details about his wife's condition. Jason Carter is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100 on Dec. 29, 2024, and first lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96. Carter, who served in the Georgia State Senate from 2010 to 2015, was the Democratic Party nominee for governor in Georgia in 2014. He lost to incumbent Nathan Deal by 7.9%, receiving 44% of the vote. In November 2015, Jason became Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Carter Center, the nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by his grandparents to fight for human rights and the alleviation of human suffering, prevent and resolve conflicts, improve health care, and enhance freedom and democracy. He had previously served on the board since 2009. Jason is also a lawyer and has represented clients in high-stakes trial and appellate business litigation, including breach of contract, class actions, business torts, and other complex commercial cases, according to Bondurant Mixson & Elmore. He has received numerous awards for his legal work and community service. He also wrote a book published by National Geographic titled Power Lines, which detailed the racial divides he experienced in South Africa while serving in the Peace Corps. Kate Carter is a high school teacher and former journalist with the Athens Banner-Herald. She also launched a nutmilk brand, Treehouse Naturals, with a friend in 2016. The couple has two teenage sons. What they're saying Before his announcement about his decision not to run, Jason Carter had been mentioned as a centrist candidate with high name identification who could run as a bridge between the Democrats' base and voters who might be up for grabs if President Donald Trump's popularity and the Republican brand take a dip heading into 2026, according to The Associated Press.
Forbes
24-03-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Guinea Worm Eradication: Celebrating A Humanitarian Legacy
In June 2023, Mariam, a Sudanese refugee from the town of Tendelti, collects water from a borehole installed by UNICEF in the village of Koufroun, eastern Chad. Safe water points like this one are critical to protecting children and families from the spread of Guinea worm disease. We're on the cusp of an enormous global achievement. Guinea worm, a neglected tropical disease (NTD), has nearly been eradicated. A scourge to humankind across millennia, it's been postulated that the medical emblem with a snake wrapped around a staff is actually a Guinea worm. As with the fight against polio, this work has required decades of international coordination and mobilization in 21 countries across Africa and South Asia. UNICEF has been at the forefront of these efforts, bringing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) expertise to vulnerable, often remote communities. And starting in 1986, a powerful ally — former U.S. President, statesman and humanitarian Jimmy Carter, along with The Carter Center — played a key role in taking the fight to the next level. It was a massive undertaking for a parasitic disease with which most Americans are unfamiliar, but Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is debilitating and excruciating for those infected. It is contracted when people consume water from stagnant sources contaminated with Guinea worm larvae. Once a person is infected, during the year-long incubation period the worm grows and eventually emerges from a painful blister, most often in the leg or foot. By this time, the worm will have grown to about 3 feet long. The most widely used extraction method is to gradually wind the worm around a small, dirty stick; the entire process can take weeks, sometimes leading to secondary bacterial infections. In Sudan in 2012, a Guinea worm is extracted from a patient's foot by wrapping it around a stick and carefully pulling it out. The process is carried out twice a day and can take weeks to fully remove. It's during this period when contamination is such a huge risk, as Guinea worm sufferers would often seek to soothe their wounds by soaking their infected extremity in a shared stagnant water source, renewing the cycle and putting more people in danger. Though the disease is not usually fatal, it can still have severe and widespread impacts on communities. 'It tends to emerge during harvest,' says Ida Marie Ameda, Global Malaria and NTD Advisor for UNICEF. 'It takes people away from farming. That's their livelihood.' If a child contracts Guinea worm, they could miss weeks of school. If a village is raided during times of conflict, those infected may not be able to flee to safety. The consequences of an outbreak have always been evident, but the path toward eradication would require a clear plan and vision. When it came to addressing Guinea worm disease, UNICEF's focus in the 1970s and early 1980s was primarily in India, which had the largest number of cases outside of Africa. 'India was the epicenter,' recalls Kul Gautam, former UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. 'There were seven states of India where there were 40,000 cases occurring of Guinea worm every year.' At the same time, WASH had become increasingly important in the country because of ongoing droughts, setting the stage for the pioneering work to come. A formal eradication program would begin in 1983. UNICEF developed a multipart strategy to fight Guinea worm, beginning with a rapid increase in boreholes and improving access to safe water in rural areas. 'In India, UNICEF worked with local governments and private companies to manufacture several hand pumps,' says Gautam. 'There's a hand pump called India Mark II, which became very famous. That became the most widely used water pump in developing countries.' A woman explains the life cycle of a Guinea worm, part of community education efforts in Rajasthan, India. In 1983, India launched the world's first national Guinea worm eradication program. Temephos, a pesticide, was applied near these water points to help kill infected water fleas. And then, perhaps most important of all: 'awareness creation,' says Rupert Talbot, a former WASH specialist at UNICEF India. 'We had people going around village to village and monitoring the number of Guinea worm cases, alerting the authorities when one had been found.' Much of these efforts also focused on convincing communities, particularly in India's Rajasthan state in northwestern India, to close stepwells that so frequently led to Guinea worm exposure. Without this outreach, the WASH programs could only go so far. These learnings would be invaluable as UNICEF and partners expanded eradication efforts to other countries. 'The name of the game is replication in all these programs,' says Talbot. 'It's advocating an approach, demonstrating the art of the possible, and then replicating it and taking your particular project to scale.' And through the years, progress would continue to be made in India; elimination would be certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000. Archival photos from the 1980s show UNICEF-supported interventions to eradicate Guinea worm disease in Ethiopia, including community demonstrations on water filtration, left, and the construction of new wells. In 1986, the fight against Guinea worm would receive a significant boost in profile. 'Jimmy Carter became very interested and involved, and he made it into a big focus for The Carter Center,' says Gautam. At that time, UNICEF and partners had brought to light that this was a persistent problem in several countries, and WHO had developed technical guidance and an eradication strategy. 'UNICEF, WHO, the CDC and Carter Center, those four organizations became the big organizations who were pushing,' says Gautam. 'Jimmy Carter's involvement made it possible for us to go to the highest levels of government.' 'He was an amazing statesman,' remembers Della Dash, a former WASH specialist at UNICEF Ethiopia. 'He was brilliant and intense. When he looked at you, there was nobody else in the world that existed. He was a 100 percent focused on you, what you were saying.' Carter's ability to win over world leaders would be instrumental in breaking down barriers in the years ahead. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during his first visit to Ethiopia in 1993. Meanwhile, UNICEF and partners were finding success with new approaches. For instance, in the mid-1990s, UNICEF used GPS units coupled with WHO-developed software to locate remote villages in Ethiopia with limited water sources, making them prime candidates for drilling new boreholes, or protecting springs where possible. 'The GPS devices were big and heavy, and they didn't have a very long battery life,' says Dash. 'But they were helpful as a tool to guide us in terms of program implementation and what intervention needed to happen in different areas.' UNICEF staff based in impacted countries would communicate regularly, and convene periodically. "Once we met in Geneva, all 40 or so of us would look at the data together and figure out how to develop strategies to really address the challenges,' says Dash. These strategies were often focused on the different points at which the transmission cycle could be broken. This could mean digging more wells, or teaching people how to filter their water using mesh screen material. And as Talbot and his team had seen in India, community participation was essential. Della recalls how in Ethiopia's Gambela region in the west, her team would use GPS data to create maps that could be brought to village elders, who could then work with UNICEF to find potential sources of Guinea worm, stagnant ponds and the banks of rivers that could be treated. All of this work was done in lockstep with The Carter Center. And as more countries moved closer to the elimination of Guinea worm, Jimmy Carter was there to provide both political support and pressure. By 2004, Ghana was starting to lose momentum, with a surging number of cases — prompting a meeting with Carter. 'When we went to see the president of Ghana, I found Jimmy Carter to be such a masterful advocate,' says Gautam. 'He said, 'Politically, this is something that you can do. It doesn't cost a lot of money. It requires your leadership. We can make it a success.'' It took many years and there would be setbacks, including a large-scale outbreak in Savelugu in 2008, but eventually the country's elimination efforts paid off. During a 2004 visit to Dashie, a village in northern Ghana, (from left to right) the late former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF Kul Gautam and former Director-General of WHO Dr. Lee Jong-wook meet with a mother suffering from Guinea worm. Carter urged Ghana to take 'swift and immediate action' to reduce its number of cases and eradicate the disease. In 1986, Guinea worm disease afflicted an estimated 3.5 million people. In 2024, there were just 14 provisional human cases across South Sudan, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Mali. But crossing the finish line is no small task. Adam Weiss, Director of The Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program, was in Ghana to watch the last worm be pulled out of the last patient in 2010. And despite conflict and social unrest sometimes limiting humanitarian access throughout the region, the progress is still remarkable. 'We are starting to get closer and closer to not having the generation around that saw hundreds or thousands, millions of cases,' says Weiss. 'But the oral stories that have been shared have helped reinforce amongst younger generations that it's still real.' Now it's about maintaining motivation and vigilance. That became especially true in 2012. It was then that it was discovered that Guinea worm was now much more endemic in domestic dogs than researchers had realized. 'That was a big shift and required all countries with support from the global program to kind of reimagine their own programming from being very human-centric to a more holistic approach, thinking about the ecology and the environment in a different way,' says Weiss. This meant going back and listening to communities and encouraging them to keep dogs from contaminating water sources; families and local leaders played a direct role in shaping surveillance systems and safety protocols. As The Carter Center, UNICEF and partners adapt to these new circumstances and approach global eradication, what might the future hold? 'Success is bigger than just Guinea worm,' says Emily Staub, Associate Director of Communications at The Carter Center. 'It's that injection of humanity, the injection of being innovative and thinking outside the box, and what else can we do?' Because of the eradication efforts, so many more communities have access to safe drinking water from wells drilled by UNICEF. In addition, practices and data collection methods learned from the Guinea worm program are being used by thousands of people around the world, to tackle new public health problems. 'I think President Carter was able to have high-level conversations with big agencies and governments to help them see that even though Guinea worm didn't impact people in countries like the United States, this work has had auxiliary benefits in other areas,' says Staub. Your contribution to UNICEF is more important than ever. Please donate.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgia lawmakers push to honor President Jimmy Carter with Congressional Gold Medal
Georgia lawmakers are pushing for a Congressional Gold Medal to honor former President Jimmy Carter. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop introduced the resolution on Tuesday, and it has been co-sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans from Georgia's Congressional delegation. The bill aims to honor Carter's lifelong dedication to human rights, diplomacy and humanitarian efforts and for his service to the nation. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. In the last decades of his life, Carter was often described as perhaps the greatest ex-president. He regarded it as a backhanded compliment. 'It bothered him to hear that,' said Bert Lance, a close friend who worked in Carter's state and federal administrations. 'He and Rosalynn thought he accomplished a lot as president.' 'Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have done more good things for more people in more places than any other couple on the face of the Earth,' said President Bill Clinton when awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. In 1982, Carter became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University and founded The Carter Center. It wasn't until June 2019 that the former president was granted tenure at Emory University after teaching there for 37 years. In 1986, the Carters cut the ribbon on the center's permanent facilities along with the adjoining Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum (collectively known as the Carter Presidential Center) along the John Lewis Freedom Parkway. RELATED STORIES: Remembering Jimmy Carter: Here's how late former President Ford, former VP Mondale remembered Carter Photos: Former President Jimmy Carter state funeral Bernice King calls Jimmy Carter 'best president in my lifetime' as she prepares to say goodbye Remembering Jimmy Carter: Visitors come in droves to honor former president at Carter Center On hand for the center's dedication was Carter's presidential successor, Former President Ronald Reagan, along with his wife Nancy Reagan. Carter's vision of the presidential center was as a peaceful place, like Camp David, 'where seemingly unresolvable international conflicts could be worked out through mediation ... (with) a policy center where scholars could seek solutions to issues of human rights, arms control, hunger, health, environment and world peace,' the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Howard Pousner wrote in 1986. The Carter Center has spearheaded the international effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which is poised to be the second human disease in history to be eradicated. Under Carter's leadership, The Carter Center sent 107 election-observation missions to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Channel 2 Action News was the only Atlanta television station there when Carter received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in 2002. He was awarded the prestigious award 'for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.' During his acceptance speech, Carter addressed human rights and acknowledged the courage of other Nobel laureates before him, including fellow Georgian, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'The Nobel Prize also profoundly magnified the inspiring global influence of Martin Luther King Jr., the greatest leader that my native state has ever produced,' Carter said at the time. He concluded his speech by asking all people to work towards peace instead of war. 'Ladies and gentlemen, war may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always evil, never good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children,' Carter said.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Take a look at former President and first lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's burial site
Former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter are together again. We're getting our first look at the burial site and headstones for Georgia's favorite couple. The beloved former president was laid to rest next to his wife at their home in Plains earlier this month. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Their headstones list their accomplishments and contributions to the nation from Governor and first lady of Georgia, President and first lady of the United States and co-founders of The Carter Center. The Jimmy Carter National Historic Park says their graves are surrounded by a memorial garden designed by Rosalynn Carter and overlooking the pond built by the Carters. Their headstones are modeled after those of former President Richard and first lady Patricia Nixon. The park hopes to soon open the area for public access. RELATED STORIES: Jimmy Carter: 1924-2024 Family friend says Jimmy Carter's 'body was getting tired' in his final months Jimmy the Baptist: Carter redefined 'evangelical,' from campaigns to race and women's rights He passed away at their Plains home on Sunday, Dec. 29. He was 100 years old. Rosalynn Carter passed away in November 2023 at the age of 96. After weeks of allowing the American people to say a final goodbye to him at The Carter Center in Atlanta, the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and in three funeral services, he was brought to his final resting place. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
