KIM LAWTON: Ambassador Tony Hall has seen much of the world's misery up close. Take his recent trip to Gulu, northern Uganda. At dawn, he watched thousands of children head out from a special security shelter where they had come to sleep in safety. During nighttime in this region, rebels abduct unprotected children and force them to fight in Uganda's nearly 20-year-long civil war. Tens of thousands have been mutilated in the conflict, and more than a million displaced from their homes. Many of the refugees are severely malnourished and dying from preventable diseases.Ambassador TONY HALL: The one thing I never get over is, in the world, man's inhumanity towards one another. And it's something that I've never gotten used to, and I've seen it a hundred times. Before this day is up, 25,000 people will die in the world, and it's mostly from humanitarian problems: civil war, drought, corruption, lots of things. But 25,000 will die before the day is up.
LAWTON: Hall has made it his life's mission to try and save some of those people. For more than 20 years as a congressman, and now as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations humanitarian agencies, Hall has traveled the world focusing on hunger and human rights abuses. An evangelical Presbyterian, Hall says his faith plays a key role in his mission.
Ambassador HALL: I don't know how people sustain this or do this, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, without faith. I know some people do, but I could never do it. It's what keeps me strong; it keeps me going.LAWTON: Hall, who is a Democrat, was appointed ambassador by President Bush in 2002.
President GEORGE W. BUSH (At National Prayer Breakfast): Tony Hall -- as you can tell, I obviously made the right choice.
LAWTON: He works in Rome, where he represents the U.S. at the UN agencies based there that deal with food and agriculture.
Ambassador HALL (In Rome office): Of the 35 most difficult nations in the world, 25 are in Africa.
LAWTON: Hall is frustrated that in some quarters the U.S. has the image of being stingy. In fact, he says, the U.S. contributes more than 50 percent of all the humanitarian aid that goes through the UN. He's proud to be part of that.Ambassador HALL: I believe that good nations, great nations, are evaluated by what they do for other people, especially poor people -- their own people in their own country and people outside. We have a lot, and we should give a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (At event in Dayton, Ohio honoring Ambassador Hall): Thank you so much, Congressman Hall.
LAWTON: Hall's passion for humanitarian issues began when he was a congressman from Dayton, Ohio. In 1984, he went on a fact-finding trip to investigate the famine in Ethiopia. He was stunned by what he saw.Ambassador HALL (Speaking at Georgetown University): Most children were dying. Many were dead. And in a period of about a few minutes, I saw 25 children die.
Ambassador HALL (Speaking at Georgetown University): You can take anybody of faith, any religion, and you will see the tremendous number of scripture verses dealing with the issue. I like the ones in Proverbs where it says that, God says, "If you help the poor, you lend to me." He also says in another way, a couple of chapters later in Proverbs, "If you are gracious to the poor, you honor me."
LAWTON: In his understated way, Hall has become one of the world's leading crusaders against hunger. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. Last year, he was instrumental in negotiating a new relief corridor through Libya to get desperately needed aid to refugees fleeing Sudan's Darfur province.
LAWTON: According to Hall, suffering in the world can be overwhelming, the problems seemingly intractable. One of his heroes, Mother Teresa, taught him valuable lessons about avoiding discouragement.
