in malawi schools have desks.y to go for the 5 million public school students in malawi to all have desks, but we're getting there. hundreds of thousands of kids in malawi have now sat at these desks that you have provided for them, and their schoolwork is improving. >> previously, as they were writing, they were writing using their knees. so it was very difficult for them to write, to have very good handwriting. now, nowadays, since we have these desks, it is very good for the elenas, because they are writing, using the desks. so they are having a very good handwriting as compared to the previous time. that's the importance of the desks now. >> and your desks, these desks, that you've contributed, are improving school attendance. >> we had dropouts in the villages, not willing to come back to school. but as the desks arrived and were at the school, those dropout elenas have come back to school. >> school attendance drops off dramatically during the high school years in malawi, for several reasons. most importantl

today three out of five students in malawi are without a desk or chair down from 4 out of 5 studentsgo. that's all thanks to the generation donations of the kind program. joining me now the great wonderful generous lawrence odonell. >> is this is all thanks to the m msnbc audience. we have no other vehicle to raise money for the kind fund. without this network there would be nothing. >> for those that don't know, how did you come to be involved in the program? >> it was a sort of accidental thing. a friend of mine had just returned from africa and she runs a charter school in boston in my old nabeighborhood and i s helping her and she said when she toured african school in malawi in particular she asked all teachers what do you need and the number one answer was chairs. they couldn't actually having chairs and desks. by the way the teachers stand for seven hours a day in these classrooms with no chairs at all. and so, the notion of chairs and desks, well, that would be too lavish. so there was just that one word, chairs, that's all they said. when i heard this i found myself saying w

they just want a bar of soap. $5 buys a lot of soap in malawi.f soap to bathe and to wash their clothes. but soap is a luxury for those girls. the little bar of soap that you might find in a cheap motel in america is invaluable to them. there is no amount of money that you can donate to the k.i.n.d. fund that is too small to instantly improve the lives of kids in these schools. jenny 72 writes, ready to make my annual donation to unicef for k.i.n.d. i was in child development for 16 years and i support all your work. it's so gratifying to me when people like jenny, who understand these issues so well who have worked with these issues support the k.i.n.d. fund. and i need to personally thank laurie spoon because she tweeted, lawrence, happy to have donated a desk to the k.i.n.d. fund in your honor. thanks to the great work you do. thank you, laurie. on facebook, duree lee said, my mother worked in malawi in the 1990s with international refugee committee and with doctors without borders. she loved the sweet, kind people. i applaud this wonderful, w

so, in places like malawi, there are a lot of barriers for girls to go to school, stay in school, getrriage or just poverty. in malawi specifically girls can travel, like you ltsd, up to 20, 25 kilometers to get to the closest school. that in and of itself, that distance is a barrier. so, if girls are walking there, they may not walk home. they may stay and sleep on the floor of the school, which isn't set up for that. it's not safe. it's not comfortable. and then walk home again the next day. they may miss days and days of school because of this. we have some friends, some journalists who are part of our fellowship who traveled to malawi last year and witnessed this firsthand. really all of the girls said, we need bicycles. we can travel so much further, so much faster, come home every day, stay with our families and stay safe. it's like, that's so simple. we all had bikes growing up here in the u.s. i'm sure morgan had a bike. i had a bike. >> how expensive are these bikes? >> it's really not that expensive. it's $125 for a bike, but that includes parts, training on how to take -- y

only 7% of girls in malawi finish high school. that's why the k.i.n.d..d. fund four years ago, i wanted to keep it simple, very simple. kids in need of desks. i wanted to get these desks into schools in africa where teachers and students had never seen desks. simple, affordable concept, also a job program for workers in african factories who make these desks that we then deliver to schools that have never had desks. not schools that didn't have enough desks. schools that never had a single desk for anyone. not for the students .and not for the teachers. the only thing we needed to get the desk into the classroom was money. and you have been very nen rouse about that. hundreds of thousands of students have used the desks that you have contributed. when you visit schools in malaw i, you can't help but notice when you look at the higher grades, the elementary schools and the high school, there are fewer and fewer girls in the classroom. so i decided the one thing worth adding to the very simple kids in need of desks concept, the one thing we could do was a

and so we have created a fund just for sending girls to school in malawi.e crossed the $1 million mark on that fund. we are at $1,057,792 for girls scholarships. malala talked this week about the importance of girls education. she talked about in the developing world a situation where the leader, some of the more affluent people send their daughters to school but no one else gets to go to school in those countries. that's actually the way it was in this country not that long ago. . if you go back to the turn of the century, there was a book written by a harvard professor saying that education was harmful to girls, physically harmful to girls. that it would interrupt and mess up their reproductive health. and so the history of girls education was a difficult one in this country and i'm going to tell you more about that difficult history of girls education in this country next. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars

high school in malawi is not free. it costs too much money for most families.giving tuesday alone, we have raised $63,330 for the k.i.n.d. fund. we donated a classroom of desks. it is for the children of the world community. randy schweitzer posted, i gave a desk also. lawrence, on giving tuesday i'm donating another desk to the unicefk.i.n.d. fund in honor of my grandsons. you can contribute by going to the k.i.n.d. website and you can also call 1-800-4-unicef. ♪ denver international is one of the busiest airports in the country. we operate just like a city, and that takes a lot of energy. we use natural gas throughout the airport - for heating the entire terminal, generating electricity on-site, and fueling hundreds of vehicles. we're very focused on reducing our environmental impact. and natural gas is a big part of that commitment. they take us to worlds full of heroes and titans. for respawn, building the best interactive entertainment begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamer

high school in malawi is not free. it costs too much money for most families.ur generosity, so far on this giving tuesday alone, we have raised $63,330 for the k.i.n.d. fund. we donated a classroom of desks. it is for the children of the world community. randy schweitzer posted, i gave a desk also. lawrence, on giving tuesday i'm donating another desk to the unicefk.i.n.d. fund in honor of my grandsons. you can contribute by going to the k.i.n.d. website and you can also call 1-800-4-unicef. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ her smile is so white. i was pretty stunned myself. removes fourteen years of stains. see? crest whitestrips work on a deeper level than paste. whitening toothpaste only removes surface stains, but whitestrips go below the enamel surface to safely remove deep stains. don't miss our buy one get one free offer this holiday season! goodnight. goodnight. for those kept awake by pain... the night is anything but good. introducing new aleve pm. the first to combine a safe sleep aid. plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last until the am. now you ca

from malawi and exposed

>> you are in malawi? >> reporter: and even helping out where she could.ut it was a journey riddled with setbacks, and loneliness. >> because i would really like to be embraced. >> headed into the final leg of the trip, she missed the boat from south africa to antarctica and had to wait four more years to get the sponsorship for her journey. but this week armed with a new tractor and a team, she did finish it. >> so absolutely happy, and in awe, and it feels that me, and the tractor has actually made it to the south pole and that this seemingly impossible story has actually got its beautiful happy ending. and i'm so grateful for that. >> she set out on the mission to see the world through her own lens and to prove if you really want to do something it can be done even if it takes time. robyn curnow, cnn, atlanta. >> how about that one, a lot of patience as well. finally, at this hour, the most successful launch of the most powerful rocket to blast off from california. there it goes, officials didn't specify what the atlas 5 was carrying except to say the p

desks, the partnership i created with unicef to provide desks for african schools, desks created in malawiy've never had desks. it's something i talk about every year at this time. it is the permanent cause of this show. we then spent the rest of the week in breaking news situations and were not able to get back to update you on the progress of the kind fund. in the course of that week, without me saying another word about it, you have contributed another $250,892 for the kind fund. that's for kids, for desks in kids' schools and for the other part of the program that we have, which is providing tuitions, high school tuitions for girls, girls education being a particular challenge. the total that you have contributed so far since we started this program is $7,867,657. thank you very much for that. if you'd like to learn more about that you can always go to last word's website. expanded minuteclinic, for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come t

high school is not free in malawi. there are school fees involved.heir sons instead of their daughters so girls need extra help. very important news about the girls' scholarship fund in the k.i.n.d. fund. we have just crossed the $1 million mark. we have now raced $1,039,161 for the girls scholarship part of the k.i.n.d. fund. the total amount we've raised so far, $7,879,239. thank you very much for that. the girls thank you for that. we'll be right back. right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for $65 a month. 3 gigs ... is that a lot? that's about...100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. (singing) and five golden rings! ha, i see what you did... (singing) four calling birds...three french hens... (the guys starts to fizzle out) two... turtle... doves... i really went for it there ya you did... you really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for $65 a month. switch to at&t, buy a new smartphone and get $150 credit per line. you don't need to think about the energy that makes our lives possibl

the partnership for schools in africa and for money for girls scholarships to go to high school in malawilast week you have contributed another $306,197 to the k.i.n.d. fund bringing the total contributed to $8,525,968. $1,255,110 of that total is now devoted to scholarships for girls to attend high school in africa. where a high school is not free, unfortunately. you can always contribute to the k.i.n.d. fund at lastworddesks.msnbc.com or by calling 1-800-4-unicef. thank you very much for supporting the k.i.n.d. fund once again this holiday season. mother of softness... charmin!!! take a closer look at charmin ultra soft and you'll love what you see. not only can you use less, but you can actually see the softness in our comfort cushions. we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft? (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru a s

high school is not free in malawi. there are school fees involved. daughters so girls need extra help. very important news about the girls' scholarship fund in the k.i.n.d. fund. we have just crossed the $1 million mark. we have now raced $1,039,161 for the girls scholarship part of the k.i.n.d. fund. the total amount we've raised so far, $7,879,239. thank you very much for that. the girls thank you for that. we'll be right back. here's a question for you: when electricity is generated with natural gas instead of today's most used source, how much are co2 emissions reduced? up to 30%? 45%? 60%? the answer is... up to 60% less. and that's a big reason why the u.s. is a world leader in reducing co2 emissions. take the energy quiz -- round 2. energy lives here. mhere's our new trainer! ensure active heart health. heart: i'm going to focus on the heart. i minimize my sodium and fat... gotta keep it lean and mean. pear: uh-oh. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium... and phytosterols, which may help lower cholesterol. major: i'm feeling energized

question for me is what i see when i go to the third world and my wife is a project going out in malawi, one of the poorest continents. i see the good will of the women is what it is. they know how remarkable it is. they love doing the kind of thing that we grew up in the midwest. she saw all of these and they didn't have anything to do with the end of the season and didn't have preservation. she went back and shipped over and sold property and left them and shipped over containers of canning equipment and organized them and went to africa and i went back with her. this is very, very difficult. i have been all over africa, about as poor as it gets. she organized a cooperative of these women and some of them were great in the field and they were against the degradation of who they were with the aids that infected their country and the corruption at the top. those were the stories that haunt me. the rest of us, the west were believe moving with silicon valley and all the other changes in our lives. so many people in the world who were just stuck in place. they have real skills and intuiti

paymenter to be ambassador to the republic of malawi. donald l. heflin of virginia would be ambassador to the republic of cabo verde. broadcasting board of governors -- michael w. kempner of new jersey to be a member, leon aron of virginia to be a member. the presiding officer: their two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the gilbert nomination. all time is yielded back. on all nominations. the question is on the gilbert nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the question is on the barber nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed, nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. the question is on the saperstein nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators in the chamber voted? does any senator wish to change his or her vote? if not, then the ayes are 61. the nays are 36. and the nomination is agree

and my wife has a project going now in malawi, one of the poorest countries in africa, one of the poorest continents. and i see the goodwill of the women who are running a canned tomato project is what it is. and she -- those of you who know her know how remarkable she is, but she went over there on some other project, loves doing the kind of things that we grew up with in the midwest, and she saw all these tomatoes and they didn't have anything to do at the end of the season, they didn't know what to do with them, they didn't have preservation, canning. she went back, shipped over, sold some property her dad left her, shipped over containers and canning equipment, organized women to go to africa and i went back with her. this is a very difficult country. i have been all over africa, this is about as poor as it gets. she organized a cooperative of these women. some were great in the field, others were great at managerial stuff. they were just a speck against all this degradation of who they were and the aids that had infected their country, and the corruption at the top. and those are the

said, and i quote, we are hungry to help the farmer in malawi, who by selling her crop will generate the money needed to support her family and pay for her children to go to school. the end of the quote. so the bottom line is, we cannot sit by and do nothing as 800 million hungry people suffer and far too many die from malnutrition. as mothers and fathers are forced to watch their children go hungry, we can do something. human dignity and decency and our own national security demands that we support and sustain this important investment in agricultural development and nutrition. i urge all my colleagues to support the global food security act and once again i'd like to thank chris smith, chairman royce, ranking member engel, representative bass and all of our staff, carol, kelly, joan, janice and jen for all their work on this bill. i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen, a member of t