"Poverty in the United States is certainly very different from poverty in my country," Thomas Awiapo told more than 200 people at the March 25 "Keeping the Promise" conference on worldwide poverty at the University of Southern California.

The 30-something (he wasn't sure of his age) African, who grew up in a poverty stricken village in Ghana, reported that he was surprised to find homeless people living on the streets of this rich nation, which he always considered heaven on Earth. He believed it was important, however, for Americans to recognize poverty in their midst, because if they didn't, how could they ever reach out to the poorest of the poor in Africa?

"But I also want to appeal to people who also have values that transcend boundaries of your country in thinking about a global village --- one world, one God, one people," the keynote speaker added. "You have to transcend the boundaries of your country, and that's why we are here today."

The daylong conference was sponsored by a who's who of prominent social justice nonprofits: American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International, Bread for the World, Oxfam, ONE Campaign, Be the Cause and Catholic Relief Services as well as the Los Angeles Archdiocese's Office of Justice and Peace.

Workshops were conducted on international trade, human rights, international debt, fair trade and other related topics.

A primary goal, according to organizers, was to remind the 189 member states of the United Nations --- who, at a Sept. 2000 global summit, made specific promises ranging from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to achieving universal primary education to combating HIV/AIDS --- that the clock was ticking on their 2015 and 2020 commitments.

Awiapo, who holds a master's degree in public health and trains African community leaders for Catholic Relief Services, reported that 155,000 individuals die every week because of hunger, while every day 6,000 die due to AIDS and 3,000 from malaria.

"I am talking to you about a continent where so many innocent lives are lost every day also because of war and conflict and destruction," he said. "Right now you hear so much about Sudan, but there is no end to the list. And every day it grows, while everybody closes their eyes to that.

"And when those guns open fire, the greatest victims are children. And they don't even know why they have to die."

He pointed out that at one time Africa was considered one of the wealthiest continents on the planet, but today was the poorest --- wounded by conflicts, famine and disease. He described his homeland as "bleeding to death."

The United States was a nation blessed by God as a source of blessings to others, he said, and, as a result, its citizens had to be "good stewards" of their wealth.

"I could never imagine a God creating a world in which everybody's rich," he concluded. "Neither can I imagine God gives me a world in which everybody's poor.

"But I can imagine God creating a world and creating people and putting a heart in them to share their love and poverty together," he stressed. "And then the world would be a wonderful place to live."

Rosanna Ferraro, a religion teacher at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica, said one of the most important things she received from this conference to take back to her classroom "is the confirmation and reminder of the importance of 'telling the children' about the reality experienced by the poorest in our society."

Also important, she said, would be to remind students "that they do have a voice and can make a difference through programs such as the ONE Campaign. I would really like to start the ONE Campaign for our students at St. Monica's."