25 Years Today!

Twenty-five years ago today, I was eleven years old, it had only been five years since John Lennon was assassinated and it was also a major time in history when Bob Geldolf got a great lot of bands together to put on a fantastic concert in London and Philadelphia to help Africa and it's starving nations of people and children.  It was called Live-Aid and it attracted millions of people to its concerts in America and England.  And for the billions who couldn't be there?  Well, it was the first time ever that something as big as this was telecast successfully across the globe at the same time into our living rooms and everyone could watch it as it happened.  

I remember watching parts of this concert on our old colour television and at Mum and Dad's house and thought it was fantastic to see Phil Collins, The BoomTown Rats, David Bowie, Queen, Elton John, Dire Straits and many other bands playing in their chosen venues to help world hunger on a massive scale.


 

Now, there's so much out there to help these people, but it's now the politics of that country that may be preventing it from advancing.  People in Africa - and all its individual countries within it - are at war with themselves and each other. For such a physically beautiful continent with such brilliant wildlife and a Savannah which is world famous, I am surprised its people still fight like they do.  

So, twenty-five years on, World Vision is still asking for us to help the children of this - and other Third World Countries - to assure them of a future they can be optimistic about.  I do know there is a community of high school kids who have been asking for advanced reading books; mainly Readers Digest.  They are in Zimbabwe and passing their senior levels in English and maths is their best way to leave their town and country to make it into university in South Africa.  The last we heard, their teacher was killed during a protest; but these kids will not let go of this dream of success and still wish to go on.  

These are the kinds of kids that really do need to fight to get what they want in this world.  They are smart and have been working hard at their school work to get where they want to be in life.  I really do hope they have succeeded in getting where they want to in their schooling so far.  After this, they have the rest of their lives to take on.

And to think... twenty-five years ago, in 1985, this would never have been possible for the high school kids in Africa to have this kind of education.  If it wasn't for Bob Geldolf, we'd still be all in the dark about Africa and its plight.