Great news from Zambia, where I just visited the American embassy and in a meeting with USAID, our development agency, learned that Zambia will reach an AIDS free generation in the next three to five years.

How is this possible? Even though America spends less than one percent of its budget on humanitarian aid, supporting programs like PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria have made this possible.

Thanks to Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, and both Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell for supporting these programs. The Zambian people are beyond grateful. In a land where HIV/AIDS decimated the population and no one spoke of the future 20 years ago, there is now hope.

I am proud of my country, and hope you will join me in thanking our elected representatives and senators for their continued support for these programs that will bring about the AIDS free generation in Zambia and beyond.

Willie Dickerson, Snohomish