I’ve got the Live8 Concert(s) [wikipedia] on in the background, and Sir Bob just played a segment from the original Live Aid concert – ending at what I thought was a child that had just died in it’s parent’s arms.
Image courtesy Live-Aid.info (via CBC)
Bob went on to say that the child was probably 10 minutes from death, but that they were able to step in and help, and that the child had just graduated from agricultural school in Ethiopia. Then, he introduced the now-grown child on stage. One of the most powerful moments I can remember. She is now an amazingly vibrant and glowing young woman. Thank god she wasn’t written off 20 years ago! It boggles my mind to think about all of the other kids that didn’t have that one-in-a-billion chance…
Image courtesy BBC.co.uk
This was one of those extremely rare moments that cuts through the normal commercialized, consumer-driven/oriented drivel on TV. This was real, and it brought tears to my eyes.
One thing that struck me a little odd, however, was when a group of millionaire rock stars get together to “fight against poverty in a world of plenty.” So… They’ve got millions, right? Put your money where your mouth is, and put your pimped-out Humvees on Ebay to pay for a couple thousand water pumps in Africa… Oh, and never mind about the rumoured $16K gift bags the performers apparently received. That’s a lot of food…
Update: Something else that just struck me – it took me a LOT of googling to find these two images. This should have been the message of the whole event – that it’s possible to make a huge difference – and yet it’s buried in obscure websites that are only brought to light through the tenacity of Google’s spiders…
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, I wasn’t around to see this D’Arcy, thanks so much for providing these images and for the background. You’re right, that’s such a powerful moment and it’s interesting how something like this wouldn’t have been put on the forefront. I mean, the CTV coverage was really weak on anything underlying the music itself … for those too young to remember the original concert, they may have not even known what the concert was about in the first place. Thanks again for documenting this … especially for people who read their aggregators much more than ever turning on a TV.
Yeah. I was (not surprisingly) disappointed by CTV’s coverage. Between Ben Mulroney’s mugging for the camera, and the entertainment “reporters” covering the event, I’d have been happier with just the video feeds and no commentary.
To top it off, on their marathon 5 hour long “best of” special, which aired right after the concert, they completely dropped the Ethiopian girl’s intro and speech!!! It looked like she was just some prop rolled out for Madonna to parade around the stage. Gag. Barf.
Oprah actually had the young lady on her show a few months ago and she was absolutely beautiful. She was there to tell her story through an interpreter. (She says she doesn’t remember the day of the early photo. She was really young, anyway.)
Yes, it’s a shame that it took so much effort to find these pictures.
I am in my normal mood when I watch Bob Geldof’s song dedicted to the History of Ethiopian Girl, Just few minutes I was watching this emotiona video. I need to tell everyone that Africa Calling you to support and no justification will be suitable other than the Greatest Artist Geldof Did. So let’s go again to Justice. And we do not have anything other than worm tears, but we will keep going because Geldof reminds us.
Mutaz
I am in a good mood to comment for what the Greatest Artist Bob Geldof brought to us. In Africa the situation need more evaluation and support. Walking To Justice, is the only dream suported Africa. I thnik there so many children distributed in African villages no one know about them, lack of technology, food, so many diseases of povery, TB and AIDS and as Geldof said children go bed hungary and no cooling and covers in winter. I think Bob Geldof did the greatest support again to Africa and the song featured brings our tears worm and making us going on,,,,, Thank you Bob, I love you.
Mutaz Ali,
Sudan
How can someone turn a blind eye to these children? my Grandmother was a missionary to Kenya, I grew up haveing a dream to go there and help the starving childre. Ironically my husband is from ethiopia and I live in the US. Our life goal is to start an orphanage and help these children. It is indeed a shame!