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You Asked, Bono Answers
We received close to 200 questions and comments from readers following Bono’s six-nation African tour in our blog. Many thanked the Irish rock star and activist for his aid efforts in Africa, others were skeptical about the effectiveness of relief programs. The questions from Bono’s critics and fans crossed a wide range. You can read all of the comments here. Reuters correspondent Lesley Wroughton, who is traveling with Bono, got answers to a few of the questions as they flew from Tanzania to Nigeria on Sunday.
Here’s what Bono said:
Why does it take a celebrity like Bono to get the West engaged in Africa?
Celebrity is a big subject to try and get through in a short blog. I’ve always thought it ridiculous and very silly but it is currency and I use my hard currency to have access and influence for people who can’t be present in those rooms, those meetings.
We may have fancy shoes, or in my case flip-flops, and we may be the worst examples of the excesses of the West but in these meetings we represent the poor and take that job very seriously. I try to use my celebrity as a loudhailer for those who have lost their voice.
Multinational corporations have enormous purchasing power. Why can’t they buy from African suppliers?
Doing business is sexy. Trade is sexy. Aid is not sexy if you’re an African. Africans don’t want aid but they need aid. What they really want and what their heart desires and what they truly deserve is trade as a way out of their present circumstances; to do business and the dignity of doing business together on an even playing field.
So, the thing I will come away with at the end of this trip, apart from some of the more tragic moments that are hard to forget, is this rather intoxicating ‘can do’ attitude that we’ve just discovered in this new Africa, like the A to Z textile company we visited that makes bed nets and polo shirts for its next door neighbor. There are new burgeoning African businesses about to break through if we give them the right breaks.
How do you choose the countries you visit and why don’t you focus on war-ravaged countries?
If we are really honest, we need in the next 10 years success stories. We need three or four in the next five years and 10 in the next 10 years. If we don’t have them we will lose all momentum… This trip is about trying to find countries that might prosper and become new models for other African countries, which will hopefully come out of their conflict.
I’m the biggest disaster groupie of them all, but this trip is about finding out what Africa is doing to transform itself.
How do we know that aid is going to the people who need it?
Much work is being done to fight corruption both from the African civil societies’ point of view and from the donor communities. The Nigerian finance minister is a hero in the fight against corruption. She has a model called the Virtual Poverty Fund as an example of where money is freed up in debt cancellation and can be monitored as (it) journeys through the economy. In Uganda, they have this Poverty Action Fund.
Transparency is the key word for any new increases in aid and no one wants to see redecorating of palaces when a country is starving at the side of the road.
What song is going through your head?
I have a radio on in my head most of the time and I was smiling to myself about the fact that a lot of the songs on the radio I’ve never heard before, which is to say I’m making them up. I suppose that is what I do. I’m a songwriter.
Sometimes I have a song in my head from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I have a song in my head from Massive Attack called Protection, I have a whole album in my head from Arcade Fire. In fact, their songs are starting to haunt me. They were on the road so I actually can’t get them out of my head but they are very inspiring songs. I’m lucky to have that particular virus.
But a lot of the time they are songs I haven’t heard before and I’m sort of tuning in listening. Sometimes I find myself humming a melody into my phone. I call melodies into the phone or write the words down into a notebook.
I had a great one the other day called “Love is All we Have Left.” It’s like an old Broadway tune. I thought it was a Frank Sinatra song.
--Reuters
We received close to 200 questions and comments from readers following Bono’s six-nation African tour in our blog. Many thanked the Irish rock star and activist for his aid efforts in Africa, others were skeptical about the effectiveness of relief programs. The questions from Bono’s critics and fans crossed a wide range. You can read all of the comments here. Reuters correspondent Lesley Wroughton, who is traveling with Bono, got answers to a few of the questions as they flew from Tanzania to Nigeria on Sunday.
Here’s what Bono said:
Why does it take a celebrity like Bono to get the West engaged in Africa?
Celebrity is a big subject to try and get through in a short blog. I’ve always thought it ridiculous and very silly but it is currency and I use my hard currency to have access and influence for people who can’t be present in those rooms, those meetings.
We may have fancy shoes, or in my case flip-flops, and we may be the worst examples of the excesses of the West but in these meetings we represent the poor and take that job very seriously. I try to use my celebrity as a loudhailer for those who have lost their voice.
Multinational corporations have enormous purchasing power. Why can’t they buy from African suppliers?
Doing business is sexy. Trade is sexy. Aid is not sexy if you’re an African. Africans don’t want aid but they need aid. What they really want and what their heart desires and what they truly deserve is trade as a way out of their present circumstances; to do business and the dignity of doing business together on an even playing field.
So, the thing I will come away with at the end of this trip, apart from some of the more tragic moments that are hard to forget, is this rather intoxicating ‘can do’ attitude that we’ve just discovered in this new Africa, like the A to Z textile company we visited that makes bed nets and polo shirts for its next door neighbor. There are new burgeoning African businesses about to break through if we give them the right breaks.
How do you choose the countries you visit and why don’t you focus on war-ravaged countries?
If we are really honest, we need in the next 10 years success stories. We need three or four in the next five years and 10 in the next 10 years. If we don’t have them we will lose all momentum… This trip is about trying to find countries that might prosper and become new models for other African countries, which will hopefully come out of their conflict.
I’m the biggest disaster groupie of them all, but this trip is about finding out what Africa is doing to transform itself.
How do we know that aid is going to the people who need it?
Much work is being done to fight corruption both from the African civil societies’ point of view and from the donor communities. The Nigerian finance minister is a hero in the fight against corruption. She has a model called the Virtual Poverty Fund as an example of where money is freed up in debt cancellation and can be monitored as (it) journeys through the economy. In Uganda, they have this Poverty Action Fund.
Transparency is the key word for any new increases in aid and no one wants to see redecorating of palaces when a country is starving at the side of the road.
What song is going through your head?
I have a radio on in my head most of the time and I was smiling to myself about the fact that a lot of the songs on the radio I’ve never heard before, which is to say I’m making them up. I suppose that is what I do. I’m a songwriter.
Sometimes I have a song in my head from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I have a song in my head from Massive Attack called Protection, I have a whole album in my head from Arcade Fire. In fact, their songs are starting to haunt me. They were on the road so I actually can’t get them out of my head but they are very inspiring songs. I’m lucky to have that particular virus.
But a lot of the time they are songs I haven’t heard before and I’m sort of tuning in listening. Sometimes I find myself humming a melody into my phone. I call melodies into the phone or write the words down into a notebook.
I had a great one the other day called “Love is All we Have Left.” It’s like an old Broadway tune. I thought it was a Frank Sinatra song.
--Reuters
Can't wait for the NBC News show tonite and play catch up with this trip Bono has made to Africa. He is an awesome soul, a real angel for Africa.
