U2Soar
War Child
I was looking up the details of the January release of the U2 Tribute album by Christian music artists - In The Name Of Love: Artists United For Africa. The cover version of Beautiful Day has already been released and I?ve found it to be very impressive. ?A portion of the proceeds from it will go directly to help fight the African AIDS crisis. In addition, the CD will be enhanced and will feature written excerpts from Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 (Relevant Books) and The aWAKE Project: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis (Thomas Nelson).? (Manhunt.com) Good song selection: Where The Streets Have No Name / Pride / One / With Or Without You / All I Want Is You / Mysterious Ways / Beautiful Day Love Is Blindness / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Gloria / When Love Came To Town / Grace / 40. Hopefully this particular album can further awaken the Churches (and maybe even some in the general public too) to this Campaign.). And I was curious as to what was this aWAKE Project and what was Bono?s involvement. I found this contribution by Bono. This was broadcast at a number of Christian Music Festivals! But wouldn?t it haven?t wonderful if it was broadcast during worship services in thousands of churches too (followed by a sermon on it)?
BONO
Recording Artist
Transcript of Video Message Recorded for Christian Music Festivals, plus Extrapolations
Thanks for listening to this video message - I really appreciate it. I went to Africa recently and came back with some facts I?d like to share with you. Some of you may know these, some of you may not, but they are all still mind-blowing.
Twenty-five million people in Africa now have HIV. Think about that - twenty-five million people in Africa are HIV positive. Thirteen million children are orphans because their parents have died from AIDS - and this figure is expected to double by the end of the decade.
Today - in the next twenty-four hours - 5,500 Africans will die of AIDS. Today in childbirth 1,400 African mothers will pass on HIV to their newborns.
If this isn?t an emergency, what is? In the Scriptures we are not advised to love our neighbor, we are commanded. The Church needs to lead the way here, not drag its heels. The government needs guidance. We discuss; we debate; we put our hands in our pockets. We are generous even.
But, I tell you, God is not looking for alms; God is looking for action. He is not just looking for our loose change ? he?s looking for a tighter contract between us and our neighbor.
Africa is America?s neighbor. Africa is Europe?s neighbor. We are daily standing by while millions of people die for the stupidest reason of all: money.
There is a growing movement for Jubilee in the United States. I love that word Jubilee - it suggests joy in a new beginning free from the bondage of slavery of any kind. In this instance, economic slavery. Let?s not forget that redemption is an economic term. We need to drop the debt and end the ridiculous situation where today?s generations in the poorest countries have to spend what little they have paying back old loans rather than investing in health, education, and clean water. We need to make trade rules more fair. If we?re serious, we need to let these countries put their products on our shelves and stop refusing them what we demand for ourselves - autonomy in managing their own markets.
And finally, all rich countries need to increase development assistance to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. This is not about throwing money away but about using our national wealth to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. At the moment, of the twenty-two richest countries, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list when you look at how much the government is planning to give to foreign assistance as a proportion of overall wealth: 0.15 percent of GDP. And almost half of this goes to middle income countries. The UK and Ireland are at 0.32 percent. All countries need to get the level of the Scandinavians: 0.7 percent. Americans are generous people. This doesn?t make sense. Their personal giving is in line with everyone else.
I should be preaching to the converted here. There are 2,300 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. History will judge us on how we deal with this crisis. God will judge us even harder.
Let me tell you about Jonah. In Soweto, I met a man called Jonah. He was an extraordinary-looking young man, striking and fit. Five years ago he weighed half his body weight; he was covered in scars from scratching a terrible skin rash; he was bed-ridden with TB. He had no hope - the cost of medication was totally beyond his family?s reach. But, he managed to get onto a Medicine sans Frontiers program, and soon his life was transformed by anti-retrovirals. We were excited; he was excited. He told us that his wife had died of AIDS, leaving him with their two children. His kids made him feel even more glad to be alive and healthy. We were excited again. Then he told us that his new love was also HIV positive. She is not part of the ARV program, and there is no way she can afford the drugs.
So here was Jonah?s dilemma. He said he could share his drugs with her and risk that they have no effect. Or, he could give his drugs to her knowing that his children would lose their father to AIDS. Or he said, I can keep the drugs and lose the woman I love, now the mother to my children. In my opinion, that?s a decision that no civilized world should ask Jonah to make.
Look, sometimes we?ve just got to do what we?re told. The children of God have to listen to their Father in Heaven. It?s easy to think that Africa?s problems are caused by natural calamity and corruption and have nothing to do with us. That?s part of the problem, but the truth is also that the relationship between the developed and the developing world has been so wrong so for long - corrupt actually.
It?s the start of the twenty-first century; it?s time to put this right. Charity alone will not work. We need a new partnership based on justice and equality. We need to remind ourselves that God will not accept our acceptance of lives made wretched by a geographical accident of latitude and longitude.
We must wake up the sleeping giant of the Church; we must set alarm clocks to rouse our politicians who also slumber. The choice is there before each and every one of us: to stop and tend to the distant pilgrim sick on the side of the road, or, a nervous glance, and we turn away . . . away from the pilgrim, away from God?s grace. Written for The aWAKE Project, Copyright ? 2002 by Bono.
BONO
Recording Artist
Transcript of Video Message Recorded for Christian Music Festivals, plus Extrapolations
Thanks for listening to this video message - I really appreciate it. I went to Africa recently and came back with some facts I?d like to share with you. Some of you may know these, some of you may not, but they are all still mind-blowing.
Twenty-five million people in Africa now have HIV. Think about that - twenty-five million people in Africa are HIV positive. Thirteen million children are orphans because their parents have died from AIDS - and this figure is expected to double by the end of the decade.
Today - in the next twenty-four hours - 5,500 Africans will die of AIDS. Today in childbirth 1,400 African mothers will pass on HIV to their newborns.
If this isn?t an emergency, what is? In the Scriptures we are not advised to love our neighbor, we are commanded. The Church needs to lead the way here, not drag its heels. The government needs guidance. We discuss; we debate; we put our hands in our pockets. We are generous even.
But, I tell you, God is not looking for alms; God is looking for action. He is not just looking for our loose change ? he?s looking for a tighter contract between us and our neighbor.
Africa is America?s neighbor. Africa is Europe?s neighbor. We are daily standing by while millions of people die for the stupidest reason of all: money.
There is a growing movement for Jubilee in the United States. I love that word Jubilee - it suggests joy in a new beginning free from the bondage of slavery of any kind. In this instance, economic slavery. Let?s not forget that redemption is an economic term. We need to drop the debt and end the ridiculous situation where today?s generations in the poorest countries have to spend what little they have paying back old loans rather than investing in health, education, and clean water. We need to make trade rules more fair. If we?re serious, we need to let these countries put their products on our shelves and stop refusing them what we demand for ourselves - autonomy in managing their own markets.
And finally, all rich countries need to increase development assistance to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. This is not about throwing money away but about using our national wealth to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. At the moment, of the twenty-two richest countries, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list when you look at how much the government is planning to give to foreign assistance as a proportion of overall wealth: 0.15 percent of GDP. And almost half of this goes to middle income countries. The UK and Ireland are at 0.32 percent. All countries need to get the level of the Scandinavians: 0.7 percent. Americans are generous people. This doesn?t make sense. Their personal giving is in line with everyone else.
I should be preaching to the converted here. There are 2,300 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. History will judge us on how we deal with this crisis. God will judge us even harder.
Let me tell you about Jonah. In Soweto, I met a man called Jonah. He was an extraordinary-looking young man, striking and fit. Five years ago he weighed half his body weight; he was covered in scars from scratching a terrible skin rash; he was bed-ridden with TB. He had no hope - the cost of medication was totally beyond his family?s reach. But, he managed to get onto a Medicine sans Frontiers program, and soon his life was transformed by anti-retrovirals. We were excited; he was excited. He told us that his wife had died of AIDS, leaving him with their two children. His kids made him feel even more glad to be alive and healthy. We were excited again. Then he told us that his new love was also HIV positive. She is not part of the ARV program, and there is no way she can afford the drugs.
So here was Jonah?s dilemma. He said he could share his drugs with her and risk that they have no effect. Or, he could give his drugs to her knowing that his children would lose their father to AIDS. Or he said, I can keep the drugs and lose the woman I love, now the mother to my children. In my opinion, that?s a decision that no civilized world should ask Jonah to make.
Look, sometimes we?ve just got to do what we?re told. The children of God have to listen to their Father in Heaven. It?s easy to think that Africa?s problems are caused by natural calamity and corruption and have nothing to do with us. That?s part of the problem, but the truth is also that the relationship between the developed and the developing world has been so wrong so for long - corrupt actually.
It?s the start of the twenty-first century; it?s time to put this right. Charity alone will not work. We need a new partnership based on justice and equality. We need to remind ourselves that God will not accept our acceptance of lives made wretched by a geographical accident of latitude and longitude.
We must wake up the sleeping giant of the Church; we must set alarm clocks to rouse our politicians who also slumber. The choice is there before each and every one of us: to stop and tend to the distant pilgrim sick on the side of the road, or, a nervous glance, and we turn away . . . away from the pilgrim, away from God?s grace. Written for The aWAKE Project, Copyright ? 2002 by Bono.
