Shortly after I took these I heard someone yell “I see a ONE shirt!” and excited applause from our small but passionate crew. You can buy your own here.
During the first half hour of the show, we see footage of Ryan and Simon’s in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya that fits 1.2 million people in an area the size of New York City’s Central Park.
There they meet a boy who has lost both of his parents and lives with his sister in a one-room home. These two young people must cook, clean, and take care of themselves. The school they go to, costs $200 a year each, and is their only hope to escape extreme poverty.
Some of the American Idol contestants might roll out on stage tonight wearing EDUN ONE.org shirts.
The shirts are made in Africa, of 100% African cotton, and every purchase helps bring trade to some of the poorest regions of the world.
You can learn more about EDUN, the socially conscious clothing brand created by Ali Hewson, Bono and New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory here, and purchase your own shirt from our store.
Last night, on the southwest side of Chicago, a group of us gathered around the TV to watch the final six contestants perform on American Idol and hear what the show had to say about fighting poverty. During this special show, Idol Gives Back, I was pleasantly surprised that the show addressed all areas of poverty: global and domestic, urban and rural, etc. While I wrote this people continued to vote, not only to keep their favorite contestant on the show, but to symbolize the frustration so many of us feel when we see how little it takes to eradicate poverty and yet how massive a task it seems! Hopefully after last night and tonight, our voices will be heard in a big way!
If you weren’t able to watch last night, I hope you can tune in tonight! ONE bands were visible on a number of people and I can’t wait to hear the final tally of votes cast and hopefully witness a sea of white bands in the audience! No doubt these shows will spread the word of ONE even further!
As the show ended, my friends and I quickly grabbed our phones and after several attempts, added our votes and our voices to the total. After tomorrow’s results show, it seems as though no one on Capitol Hill will be able to say they didn’t know we wanted to make poverty history!
A Birmingham Fox TV channel aired an interview today with ONE super volunteer Elaine VanCleave.
Elaine rocked the interview talking about Idol Gives Back, explaining ONE, and telling people how they can get involved nationally and locally at ONE.org.
A quote from Elaine:
“A lot of people do become paralyzed to act because the problem seems so overwhelming but what I would like to tell people is don’t be paralyzed because you can sit at home and choose to do nothing or you can act and make a difference. So I urge people to get involved.”
I found it hard to sleep last night after receiving word that I will be an audience member during tonight’s live “Idol Gives Back” show (8/7c), American Idol’s star-studded event to raise awareness about extreme poverty in Africa.
As a LA-based field organizer for the ONE Campaign, I am really looking forward to seeing ONE’s founder, Bono, on the show tonight discussing the ONE Campaign and our on-going effort to make poverty history. I also can’t wait to hear the American Idol contestants sing “American Prayer,” a song written by Bono and Dave Stewart about the AIDS emergency in Africa.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
