... for Bob Geldof who in 1984 produced the Band Aid fund-raising record Do They Know It's Christmas? and who this past week has been in Ethiopia to see how the money raised 25 years ago and subsequently has been spent.
Geldof had been moved to make the Band Aid record by seeing on TV the distorted face of an African child in pain from dehydration and close to death.
That girl, Birhan Woldu, survived and last week greeted Geldof at one of the four schools in Ethiopia funded by Band Aid; this was not their first meeting since he first saw her on TV -- at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London he introduced her to the huge audience to prove that there is always hope in even the worst circumstances if the right help is available. Geldof remains one of the most dedicated and influential campaigners for development aid.
His drive for debt reduction for impoverished countries led to important commitments by G8 countries at Gleneagles in 2005. As a result, he said last week, 37 million more children are at school in Africa.