Vanity Fair – winds of change

Look! Can you see? The shape-shifters are at work in the landscape of our lives.

In my youth, extreme and desperate poverty was common throughout Africa, Asia and Central/South America. I thought it would always be like that. I also thought that the Berlin Wall would endure like the Great Wall of China or Hadrian’s Wall.

I got on with my life, raising my kids. The next time I looked, the Berlin Wall came down and I discovered that most Asian and Central/South American countries were well on the way to lifting themselves out of extreme poverty. That left only Africa. And world leaders are taking it on!

I see the power that is being leveraged into helping African countries…. leaders like Tony Blair are REALLY pushing this, philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are on board, and influential economists like Jeffrey Sachs are driving international policy (e.g. Millennium Development Goals). Celebrity entertainers are leveraging their fame to focus attention on the needs and possibilities of change in Africa.

The winds of change are blowing through our lives.

Jeffrey Sachs at Ruhiira, a Millennium Village in Uganda

The latest (July 2007) issue of Vanity Fair has a special feature on Africa with 20 covers of Annie Liebowitz photos of Americans who are active in Africa. This issue has real information as well as goodies like Youssou N'Dour's personal playlist that you can download from the iTunes Music Store for $US9.99 which goes to the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The hundreds of supporters of the School of St Jude part of this wave of change. We are making history. We are working together on a radical transformation that will transform the world our children live in.



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