Tearfund

If I had a million dollars to give away, I would think first of people around the world who are experiencing famine and starvation. I would probably want to do a bit of research. I am aware that some regions are ruled by terrorists who steal the aid given and use it for weapons, terrorist infrastructure etc. And some organizations appear to spend aid money on political propaganda.

I sometimes see specific individuals on TV that I would like to help if I had the money. Some years ago, I remember seeing a girl who lived for many years in a refugee tent somewhere in Africa, and she wasn’t even allowed out to visit the local village. If only all the billions wasted on the poorly planned asylum system in Europe was spent on people like her.

For that amount of money, I probably would want to examine how and where it is being spent. Maybe I wouldn’t donate it all together, but donate it over a period of years, where I might focus on specific projects.

One of my happiest memories of the 1980s was seeing all the pop stars getting together to raise funds for the famine in Ethiopia. My favourite star at the time, Paul Weller, featured in it. Only thing is that he looks small, and he isn’t small. That always puzzles me. Another thing that puzzles me is the line in “We Are the World”, that says “As God has shown us, by turning stone to bread.” Recently someone on TV wondered why Bob Dylan, who knows the Bible well, didn’t correct them. The devil tempted Jesus to change stones to bread, but he resisted.

Matthew 4:1-2
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

It would have been better to weave the feeding of the 5,000 into the song. But it’s a nice song anyway. It’s the thought that counts 😀.

I had the privilege of actually being at Wembley for the Live Aid concert in July 1985. I wasn’t expecting to go. I just happened to be in London on the Saturday, and I took a trip to see the activity outside the stadium. And to my surprise, they were selling spare tickets at the gate. I still have my ticket.

The concert was broadcast to over 150 countries, reaching an estimated 1.9 billion viewers, nearly 40% of the world’s population at the time. I later bought the DVD. I was far away up high on the right side of the stadium looking from the stage. I spent much of the time looking at the screens, so it didn’t feel very much like being at a normal concert. But it’s nice to have been at such an iconic event, especially given that the whole project delighted me so much. I remember that our little Christian Union at Thomond College of Education (now merged into University of Limerick) had a little fundraising event for Band Aid at Christmas 1984.

I remember Roger Waters of Pink Floyd delighting in the fact that the latest technology was used for something so positive, instead of for war. It was nice to see that both the NATO countries and the Soviet Union were involved in the event.

And here are a couple of hymns that fit the general theme.

Zechariah 7:9–10
“Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.”