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CNN Live Today
Treasury Secretary, Bono Continue African Tour
Aired May 27, 2002 - 10:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Normally, of course, Daryn Kagan, who you all know, sits in this chair at this hour. But as you probably know by now, she is in Africa traveling with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Irish rock star Bono, of course. They have been to Ghana, South Africa and now Uganda, where education was the topic of the day. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is actually a school holiday here in Uganda, but the children of Kitzinbiri (ph) primary school came anyway to give a warm welcome to Bono and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
PAUL O'NEILL, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: Good morning.
KAGAN: These the lucky kids because they go to school. Not every child in Uganda can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you do mathematics?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: Yes.
O'NEILL: Somebody tell me...
BONO, SINGER: Who is the best?
O'NEILL: Yes, who is the best in mathematics?
BONO: Who is the best? Who's good at math? Who likes it?
O'NEILL: He likes mathematics. There you go.
BONO: Well, one day, if you are very good, when you grow up, this could happen. And if you can't, this might happen, which is even worse.
O'NEILL: Stand up.
KAGAN (on camera): We wanted to give you a look at where kids in Uganda go to school. One-hundred-twenty-one students pack their way into this classroom with the dirt floors and the tin roof. They're ages eight through 11, and those 121 students share only two teachers. And yet, for that limited educational opportunity, the kids here are willing to make incredible sacrifices.
BONO: These kids come, they miss their lunch, OK. It would cost, I think it's $1 for per term to get those kids a lunch, something to eat in the day. They are not eating. They can't afford to eat. They are going hungry to learn. These kids are going hungry to learn. These kids are learning under trees, the youngest of them, while the oldest avail of their cancellation classrooms. So we win, we lose. It's kind of frustrating.
KAGAN: But there is progress in this village. Down the dirt road from the school, there is now a well that delivers clean water.
O'NEILL: It looks like, for a fairly small amount of money, like maybe 25 or $30 million, most of the people, especially the people in rural Uganda, which is 85 percent of the population, could have water very fast.
KAGAN: And the clean water is key to raising healthy babies and children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're weighing this baby.
(CROSSTALK)
BONO: Do you think we could weigh the secretary in the same fashion?
O'NEILL: It doesn't go high enough.
KAGAN (voice-over): Bono and O'Neill's tour gains in popularity. And the gang of media grows as we move from country to country here in Africa. One thing that remains consistent: warm greetings and warm farewells.
In Wakisa (ph) district (ph), Uganda, Daryn Kagan, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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