Lewis Passes Torch After Heroic Effort
The Toronto Star, 7 Dec 2006
What does it mean to leave a legacy?
For some, it means having a statue in your honor or a street named after you. For others, it means founding a company that is named after you.
But for Canada's Stephen Lewis, it means saving lives.
Lewis has spent much of his life seeing the faces and hearing the stories of the world's poor. As the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, he has pleaded with the global conscience, demanding that it wake up to the unimaginable catastrophe that is the AIDS pandemic.
With an amazing gift for speaking, he can make an audience laugh or cry - Lewis portrays the lives of these victims, pouring his heart and soul into every word in a desperate attempt to move world leaders to act. He is respected around the world for his tireless efforts on behalf of Africa. Here at home, he is a national icon. So when Lewis's five-year term comes to an end later this month, the UN will lose one of its most dedicated and passionate employees. He is a man we know and admire. We have shared the podium with many renowned speakers, but few leave us as humbled and inspired as Lewis does. He is one of our heroes.
But while we will be sad to see him go, we aren't too surprised that he is passing along the torch. Shouldering the burden of a continent torn apart by AIDS is a lot to bear. Lewis has asked that an African woman take his place.
Since first hearing him speak a decade ago, we've noticed a growing and barely controlled anger in his voice. It's a sign of frustration over seeing millions of people die horrible deaths under the indifferent watch of the rest of the world, indifference he calls "mass murder".
Last year alone nearly 3 million people died of AIDS and 4 million were newly infected with HIV. The number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to hit a staggering 20 million by 2010.
What fills Lewis with rage is the fact that life-saving drugs are available, but too expensive for most people in sub-Saharan Africa.
His love affair with Africa began in 1960, when he spent a year traveling and teaching across the continent as a bright eyed 22 year old. It hasn't left his heart since.
That love has been at the forefront of his remarkable career, whether he was leader of Ontario's NDP party, Canada's UN ambassador or deputy director UNICEF.
So it's no wonder that when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked him to be the Special Envoy for AIDS, he said he would "plunge into it with a full heart".
That commitment has earned him the Order of Canada and 22 honorary degrees. In 2003, he was named Canadian of the Year by Maclean's magazine, and last year was on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In his 2005 book, called Race Against Time, based on his Massey Lectures, Lewis described how the international community is failing to live up to its promises made under the UN Millennium Goals. It became a national bestseller.
"I have spent the last 4 years watching people die," are the chilling words he opened his book and lectures with. "Nothing in my adult life prepared me for the carnage of HIV/AIDS".
By stepping down, Lewis is not giving up. We are sure he will continue to travel and speak on behalf of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which he created in 2003 to ease the plight of African women and support the orphans they leave behind.
He may be tired of watching people needlessly die, and tired of the empty promises made by governments, the UN, pharmaceutical companies and even aid agencies, but he will never tire of standing up for Africa.
As his UN career comes to an end, Lewis is pushing for the creation of a powerful new UN agency to defend the rights of women, similar to what UNICEF does for children.
In many ways, he embodies the Canadian spirit, he stands for justice, equality and human rights, even when it means criticizing the very powerful, something he often does. Unfortunately, the world has been slow to respond.
But that doesn't mean Lewis has failed. He has been at the forefront of movement towards greater AIDS education and awareness, while inspiring a new generation of activists in the fight against a pandemic that will one day be beaten.
This will be his legacy.
By Craig & Marc Kielburger, founders of Free the Children & co-authors of Me to We
Visit the Stephen Lewis Foundation web site.