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My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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HYDE PARK—You will remember that I told you recently about the interesting things that were being done by the Canadian groups working for the Canadian Association for the United Nations through their association with UNESCO and its gift coupon plan. I believe I mentioned how sometimes they actually raised money and bought things that are needed by specific villages and sent these things direct. Now I have information about a CARE project, which is called "Freedom Villages."

U.N. technical advisors in various nations assist CARE in determining the needs of entire villages in underdeveloped countries. CARE then asks for contributions to send supplies and equipment needed to start a specific village toward self-sufficiency and a basic economy.

I find that the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs has undertaken such a project for the village of Bazitpur in India, which is about 15 miles from Delhi and has a population of somewhere around 2,000 people. This is the first village coming under the new CARE program and, of course, was chosen because India is the decisive area in Asia where we must demonstrate that the democracies really are able to help—not only to help but to do so and still allow people their freedom. It is hoped, of course, that this actual demonstration will be more convincing than any promises made by the Soviets.

I am particularly glad that the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs is pioneering in this interesting program, and I think Mrs. Leonard E. Oliver of Kansas City, the federation president, deserves great praise for her efforts.

CARE will send its signed receipts for money received and a description of the village as well as furnish six-month progress reports.

There are two areas in Korea that also are being aided through CARE. The village of Tap Shim Ni, which is a refugee camp of over 400 people near the Seoul area, has been undertaken as a project by the Hyde Park Community of Chicago. And Choong Moo Ro, a village of over 150 widows and children, is being helped by general subscriptions obtained from the public in Seattle by the CARE field office there.

This new program initiated by CARE gives people a chance to help themselves and gives us a chance to come in personal touch with the situation of people in areas of the world where many of us cannot even picture what the conditions are like.

It is hard for us to realize that two-thirds of the world's people live in underdeveloped areas where the average income is less than a dollar a week and where life expectancy is only 30 years.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1955, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 6, 1955

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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