Press Kit

In June 2011, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and the two winners of his "Win-A-Trip" contest – Saumya Dave and Noreen Connolly – traveled with Helen Keller International throughout Senegal, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. Shawn Baker, HKI's vice president and regional director for Africa and Douglas Steinberg, HKI's deputy regional director for West Africa, accompanied Kristof and blogged about their experiences for HKI’s blog, Seed to Sight.

Helen Keller International was prominently featured in three of Kristof's columns:

Kristof's first column, "The Breast Milk Cure", focuses on the importance of breastfeeding and how it is the "ultimate low-tech solution" in the fight against starvation.

His second column, "Face to Face With a Mother’s Pain", focuses on the sense of anguish and helplessness felt by Saumya Dave when she encounters a pregnant woman who has a severe leg infection and has not eaten in over a day. HKI helped this woman receive the food and medical care she needed. Kristof notes that our Homestead Food Production program "create[s] a safety net" to ensure families have enough nutrient-rich foods to keep them healthy, a solution that could have averted this woman's plight.

In his third column, "An African Adventure, and a Revelation", Kristof reflects on his week-long travels with HKI and concludes that Africa is making great progress; he specifically singles out areas in which HKI is involved like food fortification, vitamin A supplementation, and Onchocerciasis control.