light the night | Energize Africa

29 July, 2014

Just about everybody enjoys a candle, a campfire, a flickering lantern. But I don't know anyone who wants to read by that light, or mend clothes, or give birth.

So, this from the good folks at the One Campaign:

Next week, 40 to 50 African leaders will be in DC for the first-ever US-Africa Leaders Summit. This is going to be a huge event.

But…

Next week the Senate will be gone. For the entire month of August.

So...

This week is THE week to get the Energize Africa Act passed.  

Send a message to your U.S. senators and tell them this is the week to stand up and support the Energize Africa Act. We've only got a few days to make this happen—but it's totally doable if enough of our senators hear from enough of us.

Here's the message I sent my senators—feel free to borrow and personalize it however you wish (I borrowed it from the One Campaign and added a tiny bit of a personal appeal).

I'm writing to ask you to co-sponsor and support S. 2508, the Energize Africa Act. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. Coons, Sen. Markey, Sen. Isakson and Sen. Johanns just introduced this bill, which seeks to reduce poverty, improve health and education, and bolster economic growth in Africa by ramping up U.S. involvement in promoting first-time access to electricity for at least 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.  

Similar bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2548, the Electrify Africa Act, was recently passed in the House by a bipartisan vote. The Electrify Africa Act is also aimed at bringing first time energy access to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, and according to the Congressional Budget Office, would actually reduce the budget deficit by $86 million over the next 5 years. Both bills represent a new approach to development aid that leverages the private sector to assist the world’s poorest.  

I hope you'll support the Energize Africa Act with the energy and imagination I so admire in you.  

Sincerely,
Jim Hancock 

Africa doesn't have to be in the dark; we can help turn on the lights.