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Bono urges AIDS help for Africa
Continent needs life-saving drugs, rock star says
By Ken Berzof
The Courier-Journal
"I'm not here as a do-gooder. This is not a cause; it's an emergency," said Bono, who appeared in Jefferson County last night with Kentucky singer Wynonna Judd, right.
*Associated Press photo
Rock star Bono delivered a powerful performance last night, but it wasn't music that brought the audience to its feet.
Rather, it was his passionate plea on behalf of millions of Africans who die each year of AIDS.
Bono, lead singer with the group U2, told about 1,100 people at Northeast Christian Church in eastern Jefferson County that ''2 1/2 million Africans will die of AIDS this year because they can't get hold of drugs that we take for granted. These drugs are so cheap to make; we just have to get them over there.''
He also made it clear that ''I'm not here as a do-gooder. This is not a cause; it's an emergency.''
Accompanying Bono on stage was Kentucky singer Wynonna Judd, who told the crowd: ''We have choices; many in Africa don't. That's one reason I'm here. I come from a passionate family, and we want Washington to know that Kentuckians are interested in this.''
Bono, 42, who has been championing African issues for nearly 20 years, embarked on the Heartland of America Tour to raise awareness about the spreading AIDS epidemic in Africa.
The seven-city, Midwest bus tour began last Sunday in Lincoln, Neb., and ends today in Nashville, Tenn. Other stops included Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. During the tour Bono spoke at newspaper editorial offices, college campuses, churches and industrial plants, and in Louisville even made a stop at a Krispy-Kreme Doughnut outlet.
The tour had attracted about 8,000 people as of last night, said a spokeswoman for DATA -- Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa -- the sponsoring organization that the Irish singer helped found last year. Bono and the group are urging Americans to try to persuade lawmakers to increase funding for the fight against AIDS in Africa, and they want the U.S. government to forgive debts of African nations to free up money that could be used to fight the disease.
Northeast Christian Church was chosen as the Louisville-area stop because of its support of the humanitarian organization World Vision, which is helping the tour with some of its arrangements, said Darin Bennett, executive pastor.
''AIDS is a disease that has spread, and we as a church feel we can help,'' he said.
Bono said he took his message to the Midwest because it's the nation's ''moral compass.''
''In this neck of the woods, people have a sense of what's right and wrong,'' he said. ''People back East say people in the heart of America don't care; I say they're wrong.''
In Louisville, Judd was filling in for her actress sister, Ashley, who had been on the tour since it began but couldn't make the Louisville stop.
Before the tour began, Ashley Judd -- a graduate of Ashland (Ky.) Blazer High School and a former University of Kentucky student -- said: ''I believe Americans truly want to reach out and make a difference. No mother should face giving her own child a death sentence by HIV/AIDS in childbirth. Every father should have the hope of living to see his children grow up. This tour is about showing that we can help bring hope back to millions of African families.''
Also touring with Bono were comedian/actor Chris Tucker and Agnes Nyamayarwo, a nurse from Uganda whose husband died of AIDS, leaving her to raise eight children. She later found out that she is carrying HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and that she had unknowingly passed the virus on to her youngest child at birth. The child died six years later.
Tucker, who once went to Africa with Bono, said last night that when he learned about the situation there, ''it shook me. More people should know what's going on -- 6,500 people are dying every day. We can help solve this problem.''
According to DATA, about 9,500 Africans contract HIV/AIDS each day -- including 1,400 newborns.
For more information about the situation in Africa and to learn how people can help, go to DATA's Web site, www.datadata.org.
Bono urges AIDS help for Africa
Continent needs life-saving drugs, rock star says
By Ken Berzof
The Courier-Journal
"I'm not here as a do-gooder. This is not a cause; it's an emergency," said Bono, who appeared in Jefferson County last night with Kentucky singer Wynonna Judd, right.
*Associated Press photo
Rock star Bono delivered a powerful performance last night, but it wasn't music that brought the audience to its feet.
Rather, it was his passionate plea on behalf of millions of Africans who die each year of AIDS.
Bono, lead singer with the group U2, told about 1,100 people at Northeast Christian Church in eastern Jefferson County that ''2 1/2 million Africans will die of AIDS this year because they can't get hold of drugs that we take for granted. These drugs are so cheap to make; we just have to get them over there.''
He also made it clear that ''I'm not here as a do-gooder. This is not a cause; it's an emergency.''
Accompanying Bono on stage was Kentucky singer Wynonna Judd, who told the crowd: ''We have choices; many in Africa don't. That's one reason I'm here. I come from a passionate family, and we want Washington to know that Kentuckians are interested in this.''
Bono, 42, who has been championing African issues for nearly 20 years, embarked on the Heartland of America Tour to raise awareness about the spreading AIDS epidemic in Africa.
The seven-city, Midwest bus tour began last Sunday in Lincoln, Neb., and ends today in Nashville, Tenn. Other stops included Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. During the tour Bono spoke at newspaper editorial offices, college campuses, churches and industrial plants, and in Louisville even made a stop at a Krispy-Kreme Doughnut outlet.
The tour had attracted about 8,000 people as of last night, said a spokeswoman for DATA -- Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa -- the sponsoring organization that the Irish singer helped found last year. Bono and the group are urging Americans to try to persuade lawmakers to increase funding for the fight against AIDS in Africa, and they want the U.S. government to forgive debts of African nations to free up money that could be used to fight the disease.
Northeast Christian Church was chosen as the Louisville-area stop because of its support of the humanitarian organization World Vision, which is helping the tour with some of its arrangements, said Darin Bennett, executive pastor.
''AIDS is a disease that has spread, and we as a church feel we can help,'' he said.
Bono said he took his message to the Midwest because it's the nation's ''moral compass.''
''In this neck of the woods, people have a sense of what's right and wrong,'' he said. ''People back East say people in the heart of America don't care; I say they're wrong.''
In Louisville, Judd was filling in for her actress sister, Ashley, who had been on the tour since it began but couldn't make the Louisville stop.
Before the tour began, Ashley Judd -- a graduate of Ashland (Ky.) Blazer High School and a former University of Kentucky student -- said: ''I believe Americans truly want to reach out and make a difference. No mother should face giving her own child a death sentence by HIV/AIDS in childbirth. Every father should have the hope of living to see his children grow up. This tour is about showing that we can help bring hope back to millions of African families.''
Also touring with Bono were comedian/actor Chris Tucker and Agnes Nyamayarwo, a nurse from Uganda whose husband died of AIDS, leaving her to raise eight children. She later found out that she is carrying HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and that she had unknowingly passed the virus on to her youngest child at birth. The child died six years later.
Tucker, who once went to Africa with Bono, said last night that when he learned about the situation there, ''it shook me. More people should know what's going on -- 6,500 people are dying every day. We can help solve this problem.''
According to DATA, about 9,500 Africans contract HIV/AIDS each day -- including 1,400 newborns.
For more information about the situation in Africa and to learn how people can help, go to DATA's Web site, www.datadata.org.
