I've been enjoying catching up on the various 360 concerts that I've attended this month in Raleigh, Dallas & Houston. I had a few comments to make & this seems like the most appropriate place for them.
First, I would like to thank Andy Smith for his presentation at the U2 Conference Sat. morning. I found his complete honesty in his presentation about his own life difficulties to be quite brave.
Andy & I talked for awhile on Sat. night after the concert to revive our friendship and I appreciate more than he'll ever know the props that he gave me. Thanks Andy.
Also, I'd like to thank those from Interference who came to the U2 Conference & stopped by our booth for Agnes Nyamayarwo & the women of the Mulago Positive Women's Network (MPWN).
From the generosity of u2 fans, Agnes will be able to take back to Uganda with her this week nearly $3,000 to share with the women from the sale of their crafts, her speaking fee for the conference & donations which were given to her.
This money goes a long way in Uganda & will ensure that the women will be able to pay the school fees & other essentials (books, uniforms, etc) necessary to keep their children in school - and to provide a bit of Christmas cheer for the children too!
Awesome, awesome effort by the U2 community. You didn't let us down!
Lastly, thanks for the stories & pics of the meet & greet with Bono before the concert. It had been arranged for a group of us connected with the U2 Conference to meet with Bono before the concert but, because of the insane traffic jams around the stadium, it never happened.
We were travelling in the same car as Neil McCormick (who was an absolute delight to listen to as he recalled those high school days at Mt. Temple
). As my friend was frantically texting Bono's PA for the evening keeping her updated on our traffic progress (or lack of it), Neil was also frantically texting the band to let them know about our progress so that everybody would know that we were desparately trying to reach the stadium. (if you follow Neil on Twitter, you know this is true as he twitte(red) the whole ordeal that night)
We entered the stadium just as "Breathe" was starting and took our backstage passes first to the fancy box seats upstairs but when we grew tired of watching U2 on stage as tiny ants, we went down to the soundboard area to enjoy the rest of the show.
If you YouTube Bono's performance of "One" from the Raleigh show, you'll hear an AMAZING tribute for Agnes from Bono. We had no idea that he was going to do this and we all chee(red) when we heard his shout out to her!
This was her FIRST EVER U2 concert & she enjoyed it immensely, especially One, ISHFWILF and COBL. Bono's tribute to her brought tears of joy to her eyes. It was a memorable moment.
We were able to meet up with Bono backstage before the Dallas concert where the two of them got a few minutes to renew their very close friendship. Bono even signed the program that we bought for Agnes with these simple words "I Love You, Agnes - Bono".
What more needs to be said? Excellent effort by all concerned to make Agnes' time in the USA something which she will carry in her Heart for a very long time.
Thanks for reading. Please support our effort for Agnes & the MPWN.
ONLY LOVE, debbie
Mulago Positive Women’s Network