Tamar Abrams's blog

In Memoriam: Terri Bartlett, Force of Nature Fighting for Women

2008-11-10T12:11:17-05:00

Terri Bartlett, who passed away unexpectedly this weekend in Tennessee, was a force of nature, bulldozing her way through bureaucracies, arcane laws and barriers to ensure that the health and rights of women and their families the world over were safeguarded. Using her Southern charms, she would cajole high level policymakers into understanding her worldview of equity and parity. While others would write white papers or deliver keynote speeches, Terri would instead bat her eyelashes, exaggerate her Tennessee drawl and lay out arguments that were difficult to combat. Standing just about five feet tall and with an impish, beautiful face, Terri was the very embodiment of a "steel magnolia." Terri Bartlett

Terri Lee Bartlett was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a Fellow of the Institute of Politics, Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She began living her ideals right out of college - working as the Director of Volunteers for Planned Parenthood Association of Nashville. Soon, she worked her way up to Executive Director of the Tennessee Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, a statewide advocacy organization. She later founded Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and served for more than a decade as its CEO and President.

After so many years of working to improve the lives of women in the U.S., Terri chose to use her considerable skills to guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and their families in the developing world. She joined Population Action International (PAI) in 1999 as Vice President for Public Policy and Strategic Initiatives. In the eight years that she held this position, Terri Bartlett directed the organization's domestic and international policy agenda. She became a regular fixture in the halls of Congress, in Parliaments around the world and in cities, towns and villages from Thailand to Ethiopia to Haiti. Women, policymakers, heads of state and advocates around the world came to know and love the small woman with the big ideas. She was at the vortex of every meeting she attended, leaving a palpable blast of energy in her wake.

Ms. Bartlett also played a key role in bringing the issue of reproductive health supplies to greater global attention. She served on the Executive Committee of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, an alliance of leading reproductive health organizations that works to identify the main causes of supply shortages and provides recommendations to government leaders and policy-makers about improving the availability and access to these products.

In the year since Terri left PAI, she had served as a public policy consultant to numerous foundations and nongovernmental organizations. Although her work was often in Washington, DC, and other world capitals, her heart was in rural Smithville, Tennessee where she lived with her beloved dog. She signed off her emails to friends and colleagues with, "from the hills..." Her death has brought grief to tens of thousands of people from Nairobi to Cairo to New Orleans to Washington, DC. She was engaged in several projects at the time of her death and had just finished rejoicing in the election of Barack Obama. But the ideals she fought to make reality - ensuring that women and infants don't die in childbirth, that women choose when and how many children to have, that girls receive educations to make them self-sufficient - will continue. And friends and colleagues and people whose lives are vastly improved because she once was here will forever be indebted to her. "From the hills," you will always be with us, TLB.

A memorial service is scheduled at Terri's home in Tennessee this weekend. Her brother is collecting stories about Terri to read at the service. If you have a story to share, please email it to: KBart4033@aol.com. A celebration of Terri's life will be held in Washington, DC in the next few weeks. For information, check PAI's website at www.populationaction.org.

Kenyans Call Barack Obama "Our Son"

2008-06-06T08:00:00-04:00

On a cool Saturday afternoon, the day before Kenya celebrates Madaraka Day (June 1, 1963 -- the date the country attained internal self-rule), several of my colleagues from Population Action International (PAI) and I are having lunch at the home of Rosemarie Muganda-Onyando in Nairobi.

Rosemarie, the director of the Centre for the Study of Adolescence and a dear friend of PAI's, has been instrumental in arranging logistics and interviews as we film our latest documentary. She has gathered over a dozen people, many of whom work in reproductive health, in her lovely living room for a traditional Kenyan meal. Our conversation topics range from our children to USAID to Nairobi's biblical traffic jams.

It is only after many of the guests have left and there are just six women remaining that the conversation turns to the presidential elections in the U.S. There is such passion as the Kenyan women talk about Barack Obama.

"He is our son," one states emphatically.

They speak with awe of his father's birthplace in Nyanza Province, more than five hours away from where we are sitting in Nairobi. Barack's father was "brilliant," a woman says.

"Everyone talked about how smart he was. It is the fish they eat there. You eat the head of the fish and all the wisdom goes straight to your own head." The women nod in agreement, assuming the senior Obama ate a lot of fish heads.

Those of us from the States are grilled about Obama's chances of winning the election; there is no doubt in their minds that he will win the nomination.

I ask if they would be this excited if another African-American were poised to win the Democratic nomination for president: Is it about race or is it about ancestry?

One woman shakes her head and says, "Barack [they almost always call him by his first name] is special. When he was just a teenager, he made the long journey to his father's village. He had to ride on the back of a truck. How many teenagers would do that?"

Earlier in the lunch, an earnest young man sitting next to me tells me that his greatest wish is to visit the U.S. He says that he and his friends call the U.S. "Heaven." While I try to give him a more realistic view of my country, he remains steadfast. His parting words are, "Soon I will find a way to see the United States."

As these well-educated, politically aware women talk about the positive changes an Obama presidency would bring to the world, I am reminded once again how small our global nation can seem sometimes. And, the women say, on the day after their "son" is elected president, we will be able to hear the cheering of Kenyans all the way in America.

Bringing Comprehensive Sex Ed Home

2007-11-08T07:12:00-05:00

For almost twenty years, I've worked in the area of reproductive rights. In fact, my career path often mirrored my personal life – working at NARAL in my late 20s as I took guaranteeing a woman's right to choose very personally. I worked for Planned Parenthood Federation of America in my early 30s as I considered conceiving, went through a blissful pregnancy and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. As Hannah approached her third birthday, I freely made the choice to stay home with her, working as a consultant as she attended preschool. Each year I vowed to return to full-time work, but it wasn't until after her bat mitzvah at age 13 that I made good on that promise.

Now, two years later, as Vice President of Communications at Population Action International, I spend my days developing messages that will ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and their families in the developing world. Meanwhile, my evenings are spent fretting over the sexual health and rights of my now 15-year-old daughter. It's ironic that my openness in talking about sex and my unwavering belief in the rights of women to be healthy sexual beings is put to the test in my own home. It's one thing to believe in contraceptives for all who want them and another thing altogether when you find out your own child is buying condoms at the self-serve checkout counter of the local grocery store "for my friends."

Parenting a teenager is the hardest work I've ever done. It helps that she's a good girl – smart and funny and beautiful – who still is willing to talk to me about most of the issues in her life. But a teen's life today is so very different than when I was growing up in the 1970s. She is in instant communication with dozens of her friends simultaneously through IM, email, her cell phone and our home phone. I've seen her deftly interact with up to eight people at the same time using various devices. Sex is talked about openly as early as fifth grade, and terms like "ho" and "player" are bandied about easily and often based on rumor. "Hooking up" has various meanings, most of them not particularly savory. And for many, sexual activities are viewed as a rite of passage that is unconnected to emotions. (Okay, some things haven't changed much since the seventies...) The major difference is that it is all so open and so darned early. The media and Internet have provided an unending soundtrack about sex for our teens to rock out to, but the information is frequently "romanticized" and rarely in context. The "but everyone is doing it" teenage whine has some validity when kids as young as 10 are watching R-rated movies on DVD or listening to song lyrics that explicitly describe sexual acts. In their world where sex appears to be everywhere, abstinence-only education is a joke and the best that educators and parents can do is address the topic directly and in terms our kids will understand. Whether framed in morality or religious beliefs or consequences or delayed gratification, our abstinence messages are not enough. We owe it to kids much savvier than we were at their age, to listen without judgment, and to offer guidance with love. As I've relaxed into my role as mom to a teenager, I've learned that being able to talk about and listen to anything is integral. While an emphasis on abstinence education sounds good to me intellectually, I know for a fact that it doesn't work and is ridiculed by the teens it seeks to reach. I also know, in a way I didn't when I was childless at NARAL, that keeping our children safe is a parent's overriding charge. That means telling the truth, accepting that teens are sexual, and ensuring that they have all the information and resources they need to keep them from harm. Even when the child is my own. My daughter and several of her girlfriends have spent time in PAI's offices on school holidays. Recently, when I was driving a bunch of girls to crew practice, one of Hannah's friends told another that I had the coolest job in Washington. When asked why, she responded, "Because Hannah's mom works in an office that has condoms everywhere." I couldn't be prouder.

Make Juliet’s Dream a Reality

2007-06-19T09:00:00-04:00

In Population Action International's (PAI) seminal documentary, Abstaining from Reality, HIV-positive Kenyan Juliet Awuor says about the boyfriend with whom she contracted HIV, "He took away my dreams and my future." For those of you who have seen the short film or even met Juliet during the film's European and North American rollout, you know that she still has many dreams for the future. Neither her HIV nor the loss of her infant son nor her subsequent stroke has stolen all hope. This was evidenced by her thoughts in March when PAI took her to London for the film's debut in Parliament: "After London, I see so many possibilities," she wrote.

Juliet was chosen by filmmaker Daniele Anastasion from among several young women in Nairobi who had contracted HIV because they did not have the information or supplies to protect themselves. In the film, Juliet's story becomes a visceral example of how PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) is hurting the very people it seeks to help. But Juliet is not an example—she is a woman who laughs and cries and prays to leave the slum where she now resides. At PAI, we are hoping to make that prayer a reality.

Juliet's dream is to attend a two year degree program in Communications at Daystar University in Nairobi. The cost of the program is $4,000 per year, which includes tuition and room and board. Daystar University is a Christian interdenominational university accredited by the Kenyan government. Their vision is to be a "distinguished, Christ-centered, African institution of higher learning for the transformation of church and society."

With a degree, Juliet Awuor's horizons will expand beyond the slum and perhaps even beyond Nairobi. For a total of $8,000 U.S. dollars, we can collectively change a life. And on the day in 2009 when Juliet strides across the stage to collect her diploma, we would each be there—at least in spirit—to cheer her on as proud believers in her potential.

Please take eight minutes to watch her story and then write a check to send her to school. We need to collect the first $4,000 by July 31 so she can start in the fall. Please send a check for whatever you can afford, made out to "PAI, Juliet's Fund" and sent to Tamar Abrams at PAI, 1300 19th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20036. No funds will be expended on administrative costs—all money will go for Juliet's education. If you would like to wire the money, please email me and I'll send you the information.

We use the word "reality" in the title of the documentary. I am hoping to apply it in a more hopeful context to Juliet's future. Please join us.

Abstaining from Reality

2007-05-15T09:00:00-04:00

Standing in a gilded stateroom in London's Westminster Palace was a slight young woman from Kenya named Juliet Awuor, preparing to tell her story to members of Parliament, heads of British and international NGOs and the press. It was early March and Population Action International's latest documentary—Abstaining from Reality: U.S. Restrictions on HIV Prevention—was making its worldwide premiere in the U.K, followed by events in the Parliaments of Denmark and Sweden. Juliet, who never in her 24 years had left Kenya, had bravely flown to London so she could share her story of contracting HIV the very first time she had sex because neither she nor her boyfriend knew how to use a condom.

Filmed last summer in Kenya and Uganda by former PAI staffer and current National Geographic filmmaker Daniele Anastasion and produced by PAI's Sr. Policy Research Analyst Wendy Turnbull, Abstaining from Reality provides a snapshot of the Bush administration's abstinence-only approach to HIV prevention as part of its global HIV/AIDS assistance. The nine-minute documentary examines how these ideologically-driven programs are actually endangering the lives of the people they're supposed to be protecting. With the recent resignation of Ambassador Randall Tobias as USAID administrator and the upcoming reauthorization hearings on PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the film has unexpected urgency and poignancy.

Juliet recalls watching her life story onscreen in London: "As I watched the documentary for the first time, I felt like crying all over again but I kept saying to myself that I'm through with crying. I felt so honored to be in Parliament with all those people watching my story." The film's depiction of government-funded programs that emphasize abstinence for young people and faithfulness for married couples left many Europeans in tears.

Now PAI is launching the film in the United States, beginning with an event on Capitol Hill on May 15. Working with partner organizations including SIECUS, amfAR, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, IWHC, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and many others, PAI will take the film to New York City, San Francisco and Ottawa in the coming weeks. Although Juliet was denied a visa to visit the United States, she will attend the screening in Canada.

Rosemarie Muganda Onyando, Director of the Centre for the Study of Adolescence in Kenya, and a key commentator in the documentary, will be speaking at all of the U.S. events. In the film, Rosemarie says, "To strictly say abstinence only is like walking into a hospital ward and having all these patients with different ailments and saying, ‘Okay, this is a prescription, it is the same prescription for all of you.'"

Few people who have seen the film have not been moved by Juliet's story and by the urgent need to eliminate the abstinence-only approach that is clearly undermining efforts to prevent HIV transmission. In Europe, several people asked us, "Why does the U.S. government insist on these flawed policies?" It will be interesting to see how U.S. audiences react. There is power in showing a human face when talking about policies.

As for Juliet, she is indomitable. Despite losing a baby and suffering a stroke soon after her HIV diagnosis, despite living in a poor neighborhood of Nairobi devoid of most public services we take for granted, she is filled with confidence and plans for the future. "I am hoping to go to university and get a career," she says. "I hope to study mass communications and counseling for youth. I hope that one day I'm going to change my family's life."

Watch our preview below or go catch the full version of "Abstaining from Reality." It may well change your life.

When Science and Passions Collide

2006-08-17T08:50:30-04:00

Tamar Abrams is the Communications Director for Population Action International.

I spent time this morning with a grandmother who has been living with HIV/AIDS for more than 15 years. She expressed her frustration at the conference, saying, "I don't want to sit in crowded rooms listening to scientists and policy-makers talk about what can happen in 20 years. I want to know what will be available to me tomorrow."

Her frustration is shared by other People Living with AIDS (PLWAs) and boiled over in an afternoon press conference today. A panel that included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; Dr. Helene Gayle, co-host of the conference; and Gregg Gonsalves of the AIDS and Rights Alliance of South Africa was repeatedly punctuated by hoisted signs and chanting from PLWAs. Among the hand-made signs were ones reading, "We are Not Here to Celebrate AIDS" and "Gates is not the Voice of PLWAs."

Dr. Fauci attempted to defend U.S. policies, saying, "PEPFAR has been very transforming. What was promised is there." But an activist on the panel wearing an HIV-positive t-shirt was clearly angry. She said, "We are sick and tired of government denialism about preventing and treating HIV/AIDS." She also criticized U.S. policy for "promoting its commitment to drug companies."

The press conference ended with the activists marching out of the media centre, chanting, "Stop the Circus -- People are Dying."

After several days of the media reporting only the views of "celebrities" such as the Gates' and President Clinton, it is refreshing to hear the voices of "real" people most affected by the issues we are discussing. On the other hand, real forward motion can occur only if there is more light than noise. Both reside here...in abundance.

Little Moments Stand Out at the AIDS Conference

2006-08-14T10:14:25-04:00

Tamar Abrams is the Communications Director for Population Action International.

It's the first full day of the International AIDS Conference and, for the first time since I arrived on Saturday, everyone seems full of purpose. All around the conference center, people are consulting their massive conference programme to determine which sessions they should attend.

At 7:00 this morning, the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention convened its first meeting of members. Considering the Women's March was happening simultaneously, a suprising number of people attended. The buzz was around last night's opening session. We were all in awe of the fact that the majority of conference attendees left the Rogers Centre immediately after Bill and Melinda Gates spoke -- and before celebs like Richard Gere, Alicia Keyes and the Barenaked Ladies appeared. It may be that substance prevails over flash. Or perhaps it was just that the celebs didn't take the stage until well after 9:00 p.m. We are all perplexed by Bill Gates' positive framing of PEPFAR and the ABC's last night. Of course he's not going to outwardly criticize his governmental partners, but surely he knew how this particular audience would react? He was soundly booed. Melinda Gates, on the other hand, is golden. Her remarks about women and stigmatization are being hailed universally by members of the Caucus. And we are all a little disappointed that neither of the Gateses announced a new infusion of money for prevention or treatment. Everyone is holding out hope that a big announcement on funding will occur later in the week.

This is my first IAC and I admit to being overwhelmed. There is so much to see, do, hear...and the conference is spread out over a vast amount of space. It's really the little moments -- rather than the grand ones -- that stand out. The Gateses and not a few journalists chuckling at the poor French pronunciations of Northern Ontario Minister of Health Tony Clement during a press conference yesterday afternoon. A woman in a t-shirt that read "HIV Positive" holding the hand of a gorgeous toddler in the Global Village. Two men near an escalator debating how to say "penis" in French. A woman wondering aloud to her companion about the amount of money expended on this conference and how there might be a much better use for the funds in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and men in native dress from nations I can't pronounce. The little moments will stay with me long after I forget the statistics.