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Relief Efforts Reaching Deep Into Sri Lanka, Indonesia; Americans Respond; Chisholm Tribute
Aired January 03, 2005 - 13:59 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Meeting urgent needs. Volunteers from all over the world bringing food to tsunami victims. This hour relief workers tell their stories.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: He left the comforts of America to help orphans in Sri Lanka. Now he needs help rebuilding his orphanage. He tells the amazing story of how the children survived.
O'BRIEN: Rebuilding their lives. Just a week after the tsunami struck, people in one village determined to carry on.
PHILLIPS: A new year brings renewed violence in Iraq just weeks before elections. We'll talk with our CNN military analyst about whether that country is ready.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Happy New Year to you. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
And we begin this hour with good hearts and great decency, qualities attributed to the American people and called upon by President Bush for a tsunami relief mission headed by former presidents Bush and Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're showing the compassion of our nation in the swift response. But the greatest source of America's generosity is not our government. It's the good heart of the American people.
In the weeks since the tsunamis struck, private citizens have contributed millions of dollars for disaster relief and reconstruction. Organizations like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the Salvation Army, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE, UNICEF and AmericaCares responded rapidly after the tsunamis hit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The former presidents will urge Americans to continue giving to those and other reliable charities. And we'll hear more in a live report from the White House a little later in this hour. Private and governmental relief is reaching deep into the remotest corners of Sri Lanka and Indonesia. CNN's Paula Hancocks is with a group called AmeriCares in southern Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Life-saving drugs, packed and ready in Amsterdam, four days later reaching those who need them most. This hospital in Hambantota, on the south coast of Sri Lanka, is the first stop for aid agency Americares. This doctor had to deal with 900 patients in the first two days in a hospital which can cope with just 300.
DR. JONATHAN FINE, AMERICARES: What was revealed to me was the damage done to the infrastructure of the hospitals. The linens are gone because they were used to wrap dead bodies. The hospitals are a mess. They need disinfectants. They're worried about outbreaks of simple diseases like scabies, as well as the diarrheal diseases.
HANCOCKS: The medicine is delivered and Americares walks away with a detailed wish list for the next shipment. A truck that donated food and water arrives just up the road at a coordination center. It will be handed out to more than 30 refugee camps in the area, holding around 1,500 of those whose homes were destroyed. Aid groups are starting to access these areas, but many times on an independent basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now what is happening is, you know, duplication of work. So a coordinated effort so that, you know, the things will be done to the maximum benefit of the refugees.
HANCOCKS: The Sri Lankan prime minister visited Hambantota, discussing immediate needs with the townspeople.
MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, PRIME MINISTER, SRI LANKA: We are getting aid and we have a now coordinated -- we have a coordinated committee and we are sending aid to the affected areas, whether it is north, east, south and west.
HANCOCKS: But for many not in refugee camps, food and water remain scarce. Coconuts are being given out in the streets. Many people don't want to leave the area where their or their relatives' houses once stood.
(on camera): We're just a couple of roads down from the hospital here. And this is where the locals are starting their cleanup operation. But it's an extremely delicate process. Most of the people that had lived in this area would have died in their houses. So as locals are sifting through the rubble, they're discovering more bodies.
(voice-over): And it's the state of mind of these volunteers and survivors that is another health concern. Doctors in the area understand medical support for the Sri Lankans is more than just material. Once the immediate physical needs are met, then comes the harder task of helping locals come to terms with what they've been through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Indonesia's government says it no longer fears starvation in the wake of last Sunday's catastrophe. But many other dangers remain, even as food and water flow into the coastlines and many injured are airlifted out. We'll get the latest from correspondent Shane McLeod of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHANE MCLEOD, REPORTER, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (voice-over): Much-needed supplies desperately welcomed. The buildup of international military support means aid is now reaching the most remote communities along the west Sumatran coast. Supplies, too, are leaving the provincial capital, bound for outlying villages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't -- I don't see any fear of starvation because our supplies, logistics are more than enough. And what we are up to is to try to get assistance to the right communities that are in need.
MCLEOD: Many of those who survived the tsunami aren't waiting for the aid to arrive. Instead, they're on the move, some walking for days to reach refugee camps like this one. It means aid agencies are having to rethink their approach to delivering help.
GORDON WEISS, UNICEF: When people come together and live in these sorts of conditions, sanitation and clean water becomes probably the most important thing to prevent disease.
MCLEOD: Australian soldiers have started helping out on that score, handing out fresh water supplies in Banda Aceh today. International medical teams are working to treat the injured, but it's been a week since the tsunami struck, and those who haven't been treated by now face a grim prognosis. Untreated infected wounds will kill many who survived the initial impact.
Cleanup efforts have been ramped up. But the grim human toll is still being cleared away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are burying dead bodies, around 3,500 a day. And we are doubling that from today with the increase of number of personnel. We hope that a week from now we can get all those dead bodies buried.
MCLEOD: Achieving that goal will be an important psychological step towards recovery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Bush has tapped two of his predecessors to lead a nationwide private fund-raising campaign to help the tsunami victims. You saw them earlier this morning. Well, many Americans are already doing what they can.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is finding a tremendous outpouring of relief aid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A call for compassion. The wave of tragedy is giving way to a torrent of kindness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It made me feel really sad watching the news.
MARQUEZ: From children counting pennies in Canada, to an L.A. Indonesian restaurant giving a day's profits plus tips, to Save the Children. Like drops of water trying to fill an ocean of need.
HORACEE TJAKRA, RESTAURANT OWNER: The sheer number of people that are victims now is just mind-blowing.
MARQUEZ: In Catholic Churches from coast to coast, baskets passed for a special collection. No donation too small.
CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON: From little kids saying, "I'll empty my piggybank," and from foundations to say, "We'll give $1 million."
MARQUEZ: Buddhist meditations in Los Angeles mixed with candlelight vigils around the world. Prayers so far being answered in record numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we've seen anything like this since the horrible tragedy of 9/11.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the giving percentages currently are breaking records.
MARQUEZ: Fueled by cash, Direct Relief International is trying to meet the immediate needs of survivors. They, like many other charities, are reporting a surge in giving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Federal Express envelope arrived this morning with $50,000 in it.
MARQUEZ: An enormous donation for the small charity Operation USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really, really need your help.
MARQUEZ: The campaign to give broadcast to Los Angeles homes, a four-hour telethon by a small television station with big hopes.
ZARINA RAWZAN, TELETHON HOST: Remember, one small ripple spreads out to the whole of the ocean. You can change the world bit by bit.
MARQUEZ: Doing his bit, the president of Von Dutch.
TONNY SORENSEN, CEO, VON DUTCH ORIGINALS: I have a fashion company. And I was like, "I need to sell a T-shirt and give all the profit to -- to these people." MARQUEZ: Giving comes in short or long sleeve, and in all sizes for around 30 bucks.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Helping out tsunami victims will be at the top of the agenda when the United States Congress gets back to business tomorrow. We'll show you what they're planning to do later on LIVE FROM.
And volunteers from around the world are reaching out to help those in need. One man shares why he felt he had to help out.
And just ahead, she was a pioneer of politics and American civil rights. We remember the life and the wonderful career of Shirley Chisholm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Civil rights leaders called Shirley Chisholm their Moses and said that she opened the Red Sea for African-Americans. Well, the former seven-term New York congresswoman died in Florida over the weekend. She was 80 years old. Our Soledad O'Brien looks back at her remarkable career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, FMR. CONGRESSWOMAN: I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The first African American woman elected to Congress became the first to make a serious bid for the White House. Her poverty row campaign had a catchy slogan "Unbought and unbossed."
VICTOR ROBLES, CHISHOLM DISTRICT OFFICE STAFFER: She always motivated you. She demonstrated by her acts and deeds, and then challenged you to not have excuses why you can't.
S. O'BRIEN: Campaigning in a dozen states, she won 152 of the Democratic delegates' votes. But she was no match for George McGovern. He won the Democratic nomination that year.
Chisholm was born in Brooklyn in 1924 but raised by her grandparents in Barbados till she was 10. In 1964, Shirley Chisholm was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later, she tackled her first political milestone and elected to the U.S. Congress, a post she served until 1983.
She raised eyebrows when she visited Alabama segregationist George Wallace after he was shot in 1972. But she always contended making alliances was a high political art.
CHISHOLM: It doesn't mean that I was in bed with George Wallace because of his conservative views or what have you. It means that I was a pragmatic political animal who's misunderstood. That's what it meant.
S. O'BRIEN: A strong liberal, Chisholm criticized the Nixon administration during the Vietnam War. She pushed for an end to the military draft and wanted defense spending reduced.
CHISHOLM: Over 75 percent of our budget is being spent to continue an immoral war in Vietnam. And yet, we have a domestic war here at home.
S. O'BRIEN: She was a champion of education, childcare, federal minimum wage laws and ending discrimination. She remained optimistic that the country one day would see a woman president, but she believed it would happen in steps.
CHISHOLM: Before we see a woman become president, we have to have a woman vice president. And I believe that we're going to see a woman president really within -- sometime within the next 20 to 30 years.
S. O'BRIEN: Her career in Congress helped push back the color barrier. Recalling her own struggles with chauvinism and prejudice, Chisholm challenged women to get politically involved so their influence could grow.
CHISHOLM: And if I dared to do the things that I have been able to achieve in spite of my gender and in spite of my race, every one of you in this room must dare. And I will be most angry if you don't.
I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th century. That's what I want.
S. O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Friends and colleagues today are remembering California Congressman Robert Matsui. Matsui died Saturday from complications of a rare bone marrow disorder. He was 63.
President Bush says the Democratic lawmaker served with distinction. Matsui, who was a former Japanese-American prisoner during World War II, served in Congress for 22 years. Former President Bill Clinton says Matsui leaves behind a rich legacy of service. And California Senator Barbara Boxer says he represented the best in politics.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, they've lost everything they have except their hope. Ahead, we take you to a village in Sri Lanka where the people are doing their best to move forward.
Later on LIVE FROM, here in the U.S., one airline plans a major reduction in all kinds of fees. Will others follow suit?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Europe's biggest carmaker is offering free car insurance to lure U.S. buyers. I'll have the details coming on LIVE FROM. So stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: An amazing new story of survival to tell you about today. This comes from a 23-year-old Indonesian woman swept out to sea by the tsunami from her home on Sumatra island.
Malawi (ph), as she is called, drifted for five days in the Indian Ocean, clinging to an uprooted palm tree. She was rescued by a Malaysian fishing boat on Friday. The woman is understandably very weak, she suffered leg injuries. She's now being treated at a Malaysian hospital.
PHILLIPS: Amid the devastation, signs of renewal today. Fishermen hard hit by the tsunamis are getting their boats ready to go back into the water, knowing that they must return to the sea, which has taken so much from them if they are to survive. Our Satinder Bindra brings us their story of determination from Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Their families are dead. Their homes have been smashed and their livelihoods destroyed. But it will take more than a killer wave to shatter the spirit of many people in Galle. They team up to bring their fishing boats back to the edge of the sea.
For all it's destroyed and the people it's consumed, the ocean here is still rich in fish, and these fishermen realize they must get back to work or they'll starve.
"I'm willing to borrow money at 15 or 20 percent interest to rebuild my boat," says this fisherman. "But I have to go back."
Elsewhere in the city bridges are being rebuilt. Everyone realizes without them, relief efforts will fail and many more Sri Lankans will die.
Last Sunday, this city was flattened by a tsunami. This eyewitness video shows the scale of destruction.
One week after...
(on camera): ... this city is slowly trying to get back on its feet. It's trying to blot out the pain of the past and to secure a future.
(voice over): But for all of their efforts, some residents fall back into a sea of depression. They seek the company of others. Collective grief somehow seems less painful.
"If my mother was alive, I could do everything," says resident Don Viterrana (ph). "Now that my mother has gone, I can't do anything."
Eight members of Don Viterrana's (ph) family died here. Two bodies still haven't been recovered. His business, too, has been wiped out, and he's now moved to a shelter.
"I think it will take all of Sri Lankans," he says, "at least 20 years to recover."
Just a few yards away from Viterrana's (ph) home, his neighbors try to get on with their lives. With their tears slowly drying up, they believe it's time for Galle to move on.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Galle, southern Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, CNN will continue bringing you the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. Tonight, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn and many of our correspondents will bring you an in-depth look at relief efforts as southeast Asia begins to recover from the tsunami disaster. Then a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" with former presidents Bush and Clinton, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: All right. This is -- this is a novel kind of way to get to you buy a car. You know, usually it's the rebates and the zero interest deal and all that stuff.
PHILLIPS: Right. You can give it away, get a tax write-off.
O'BRIEN: Yes. But, I mean, when you think about it, the insurance is a big part of the cost.
PHILLIPS: It's actually a nightmare. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with a little more on this story.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Aired January 3, 2005 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Meeting urgent needs. Volunteers from all over the world bringing food to tsunami victims. This hour relief workers tell their stories.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: He left the comforts of America to help orphans in Sri Lanka. Now he needs help rebuilding his orphanage. He tells the amazing story of how the children survived.
O'BRIEN: Rebuilding their lives. Just a week after the tsunami struck, people in one village determined to carry on.
PHILLIPS: A new year brings renewed violence in Iraq just weeks before elections. We'll talk with our CNN military analyst about whether that country is ready.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Happy New Year to you. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
And we begin this hour with good hearts and great decency, qualities attributed to the American people and called upon by President Bush for a tsunami relief mission headed by former presidents Bush and Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're showing the compassion of our nation in the swift response. But the greatest source of America's generosity is not our government. It's the good heart of the American people.
In the weeks since the tsunamis struck, private citizens have contributed millions of dollars for disaster relief and reconstruction. Organizations like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the Salvation Army, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE, UNICEF and AmericaCares responded rapidly after the tsunamis hit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The former presidents will urge Americans to continue giving to those and other reliable charities. And we'll hear more in a live report from the White House a little later in this hour. Private and governmental relief is reaching deep into the remotest corners of Sri Lanka and Indonesia. CNN's Paula Hancocks is with a group called AmeriCares in southern Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Life-saving drugs, packed and ready in Amsterdam, four days later reaching those who need them most. This hospital in Hambantota, on the south coast of Sri Lanka, is the first stop for aid agency Americares. This doctor had to deal with 900 patients in the first two days in a hospital which can cope with just 300.
DR. JONATHAN FINE, AMERICARES: What was revealed to me was the damage done to the infrastructure of the hospitals. The linens are gone because they were used to wrap dead bodies. The hospitals are a mess. They need disinfectants. They're worried about outbreaks of simple diseases like scabies, as well as the diarrheal diseases.
HANCOCKS: The medicine is delivered and Americares walks away with a detailed wish list for the next shipment. A truck that donated food and water arrives just up the road at a coordination center. It will be handed out to more than 30 refugee camps in the area, holding around 1,500 of those whose homes were destroyed. Aid groups are starting to access these areas, but many times on an independent basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now what is happening is, you know, duplication of work. So a coordinated effort so that, you know, the things will be done to the maximum benefit of the refugees.
HANCOCKS: The Sri Lankan prime minister visited Hambantota, discussing immediate needs with the townspeople.
MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, PRIME MINISTER, SRI LANKA: We are getting aid and we have a now coordinated -- we have a coordinated committee and we are sending aid to the affected areas, whether it is north, east, south and west.
HANCOCKS: But for many not in refugee camps, food and water remain scarce. Coconuts are being given out in the streets. Many people don't want to leave the area where their or their relatives' houses once stood.
(on camera): We're just a couple of roads down from the hospital here. And this is where the locals are starting their cleanup operation. But it's an extremely delicate process. Most of the people that had lived in this area would have died in their houses. So as locals are sifting through the rubble, they're discovering more bodies.
(voice-over): And it's the state of mind of these volunteers and survivors that is another health concern. Doctors in the area understand medical support for the Sri Lankans is more than just material. Once the immediate physical needs are met, then comes the harder task of helping locals come to terms with what they've been through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Indonesia's government says it no longer fears starvation in the wake of last Sunday's catastrophe. But many other dangers remain, even as food and water flow into the coastlines and many injured are airlifted out. We'll get the latest from correspondent Shane McLeod of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHANE MCLEOD, REPORTER, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (voice-over): Much-needed supplies desperately welcomed. The buildup of international military support means aid is now reaching the most remote communities along the west Sumatran coast. Supplies, too, are leaving the provincial capital, bound for outlying villages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't -- I don't see any fear of starvation because our supplies, logistics are more than enough. And what we are up to is to try to get assistance to the right communities that are in need.
MCLEOD: Many of those who survived the tsunami aren't waiting for the aid to arrive. Instead, they're on the move, some walking for days to reach refugee camps like this one. It means aid agencies are having to rethink their approach to delivering help.
GORDON WEISS, UNICEF: When people come together and live in these sorts of conditions, sanitation and clean water becomes probably the most important thing to prevent disease.
MCLEOD: Australian soldiers have started helping out on that score, handing out fresh water supplies in Banda Aceh today. International medical teams are working to treat the injured, but it's been a week since the tsunami struck, and those who haven't been treated by now face a grim prognosis. Untreated infected wounds will kill many who survived the initial impact.
Cleanup efforts have been ramped up. But the grim human toll is still being cleared away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are burying dead bodies, around 3,500 a day. And we are doubling that from today with the increase of number of personnel. We hope that a week from now we can get all those dead bodies buried.
MCLEOD: Achieving that goal will be an important psychological step towards recovery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Bush has tapped two of his predecessors to lead a nationwide private fund-raising campaign to help the tsunami victims. You saw them earlier this morning. Well, many Americans are already doing what they can.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is finding a tremendous outpouring of relief aid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A call for compassion. The wave of tragedy is giving way to a torrent of kindness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It made me feel really sad watching the news.
MARQUEZ: From children counting pennies in Canada, to an L.A. Indonesian restaurant giving a day's profits plus tips, to Save the Children. Like drops of water trying to fill an ocean of need.
HORACEE TJAKRA, RESTAURANT OWNER: The sheer number of people that are victims now is just mind-blowing.
MARQUEZ: In Catholic Churches from coast to coast, baskets passed for a special collection. No donation too small.
CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON: From little kids saying, "I'll empty my piggybank," and from foundations to say, "We'll give $1 million."
MARQUEZ: Buddhist meditations in Los Angeles mixed with candlelight vigils around the world. Prayers so far being answered in record numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we've seen anything like this since the horrible tragedy of 9/11.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the giving percentages currently are breaking records.
MARQUEZ: Fueled by cash, Direct Relief International is trying to meet the immediate needs of survivors. They, like many other charities, are reporting a surge in giving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Federal Express envelope arrived this morning with $50,000 in it.
MARQUEZ: An enormous donation for the small charity Operation USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really, really need your help.
MARQUEZ: The campaign to give broadcast to Los Angeles homes, a four-hour telethon by a small television station with big hopes.
ZARINA RAWZAN, TELETHON HOST: Remember, one small ripple spreads out to the whole of the ocean. You can change the world bit by bit.
MARQUEZ: Doing his bit, the president of Von Dutch.
TONNY SORENSEN, CEO, VON DUTCH ORIGINALS: I have a fashion company. And I was like, "I need to sell a T-shirt and give all the profit to -- to these people." MARQUEZ: Giving comes in short or long sleeve, and in all sizes for around 30 bucks.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Helping out tsunami victims will be at the top of the agenda when the United States Congress gets back to business tomorrow. We'll show you what they're planning to do later on LIVE FROM.
And volunteers from around the world are reaching out to help those in need. One man shares why he felt he had to help out.
And just ahead, she was a pioneer of politics and American civil rights. We remember the life and the wonderful career of Shirley Chisholm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Civil rights leaders called Shirley Chisholm their Moses and said that she opened the Red Sea for African-Americans. Well, the former seven-term New York congresswoman died in Florida over the weekend. She was 80 years old. Our Soledad O'Brien looks back at her remarkable career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, FMR. CONGRESSWOMAN: I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The first African American woman elected to Congress became the first to make a serious bid for the White House. Her poverty row campaign had a catchy slogan "Unbought and unbossed."
VICTOR ROBLES, CHISHOLM DISTRICT OFFICE STAFFER: She always motivated you. She demonstrated by her acts and deeds, and then challenged you to not have excuses why you can't.
S. O'BRIEN: Campaigning in a dozen states, she won 152 of the Democratic delegates' votes. But she was no match for George McGovern. He won the Democratic nomination that year.
Chisholm was born in Brooklyn in 1924 but raised by her grandparents in Barbados till she was 10. In 1964, Shirley Chisholm was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later, she tackled her first political milestone and elected to the U.S. Congress, a post she served until 1983.
She raised eyebrows when she visited Alabama segregationist George Wallace after he was shot in 1972. But she always contended making alliances was a high political art.
CHISHOLM: It doesn't mean that I was in bed with George Wallace because of his conservative views or what have you. It means that I was a pragmatic political animal who's misunderstood. That's what it meant.
S. O'BRIEN: A strong liberal, Chisholm criticized the Nixon administration during the Vietnam War. She pushed for an end to the military draft and wanted defense spending reduced.
CHISHOLM: Over 75 percent of our budget is being spent to continue an immoral war in Vietnam. And yet, we have a domestic war here at home.
S. O'BRIEN: She was a champion of education, childcare, federal minimum wage laws and ending discrimination. She remained optimistic that the country one day would see a woman president, but she believed it would happen in steps.
CHISHOLM: Before we see a woman become president, we have to have a woman vice president. And I believe that we're going to see a woman president really within -- sometime within the next 20 to 30 years.
S. O'BRIEN: Her career in Congress helped push back the color barrier. Recalling her own struggles with chauvinism and prejudice, Chisholm challenged women to get politically involved so their influence could grow.
CHISHOLM: And if I dared to do the things that I have been able to achieve in spite of my gender and in spite of my race, every one of you in this room must dare. And I will be most angry if you don't.
I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th century. That's what I want.
S. O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Friends and colleagues today are remembering California Congressman Robert Matsui. Matsui died Saturday from complications of a rare bone marrow disorder. He was 63.
President Bush says the Democratic lawmaker served with distinction. Matsui, who was a former Japanese-American prisoner during World War II, served in Congress for 22 years. Former President Bill Clinton says Matsui leaves behind a rich legacy of service. And California Senator Barbara Boxer says he represented the best in politics.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, they've lost everything they have except their hope. Ahead, we take you to a village in Sri Lanka where the people are doing their best to move forward.
Later on LIVE FROM, here in the U.S., one airline plans a major reduction in all kinds of fees. Will others follow suit?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Europe's biggest carmaker is offering free car insurance to lure U.S. buyers. I'll have the details coming on LIVE FROM. So stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: An amazing new story of survival to tell you about today. This comes from a 23-year-old Indonesian woman swept out to sea by the tsunami from her home on Sumatra island.
Malawi (ph), as she is called, drifted for five days in the Indian Ocean, clinging to an uprooted palm tree. She was rescued by a Malaysian fishing boat on Friday. The woman is understandably very weak, she suffered leg injuries. She's now being treated at a Malaysian hospital.
PHILLIPS: Amid the devastation, signs of renewal today. Fishermen hard hit by the tsunamis are getting their boats ready to go back into the water, knowing that they must return to the sea, which has taken so much from them if they are to survive. Our Satinder Bindra brings us their story of determination from Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Their families are dead. Their homes have been smashed and their livelihoods destroyed. But it will take more than a killer wave to shatter the spirit of many people in Galle. They team up to bring their fishing boats back to the edge of the sea.
For all it's destroyed and the people it's consumed, the ocean here is still rich in fish, and these fishermen realize they must get back to work or they'll starve.
"I'm willing to borrow money at 15 or 20 percent interest to rebuild my boat," says this fisherman. "But I have to go back."
Elsewhere in the city bridges are being rebuilt. Everyone realizes without them, relief efforts will fail and many more Sri Lankans will die.
Last Sunday, this city was flattened by a tsunami. This eyewitness video shows the scale of destruction.
One week after...
(on camera): ... this city is slowly trying to get back on its feet. It's trying to blot out the pain of the past and to secure a future.
(voice over): But for all of their efforts, some residents fall back into a sea of depression. They seek the company of others. Collective grief somehow seems less painful.
"If my mother was alive, I could do everything," says resident Don Viterrana (ph). "Now that my mother has gone, I can't do anything."
Eight members of Don Viterrana's (ph) family died here. Two bodies still haven't been recovered. His business, too, has been wiped out, and he's now moved to a shelter.
"I think it will take all of Sri Lankans," he says, "at least 20 years to recover."
Just a few yards away from Viterrana's (ph) home, his neighbors try to get on with their lives. With their tears slowly drying up, they believe it's time for Galle to move on.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Galle, southern Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, CNN will continue bringing you the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. Tonight, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn and many of our correspondents will bring you an in-depth look at relief efforts as southeast Asia begins to recover from the tsunami disaster. Then a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" with former presidents Bush and Clinton, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
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M. O'BRIEN: All right. This is -- this is a novel kind of way to get to you buy a car. You know, usually it's the rebates and the zero interest deal and all that stuff.
PHILLIPS: Right. You can give it away, get a tax write-off.
O'BRIEN: Yes. But, I mean, when you think about it, the insurance is a big part of the cost.
PHILLIPS: It's actually a nightmare. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with a little more on this story.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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