Comic Relief.......

I sat down tonight to watch the documentary about celebrities climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief. Really enjoyed it and it brought home to me the vast gulf between our world in the West and that of the people living in Africa.


Part of the programme showed a woman taking her 3 year old to hospital. The child was suffering from malaria, a disease easily prevented by simple netting.I fully expected them to reach hospital, be cured and all would be fine. The child died en route to that hospital.


I know that a lot of these clips make perfect tv. They want us to see people, children suffering and dying so that we will donate to the charity. But when you cut to the chase that was still a 3 year old child dying in their mother's arms, in a bus in the middle of Africa. Hideous.


No matter where in the world you live... whether you are a millionaire in Manhattan or a tribal mother in Tanzania... to lose a child for something as devestatingly simple as the lack of a mosquito net, is a crime. And to watch the loss cannot fail to move you.


Tomorrow is Comic Relief Day... a day dedicated to raising money for both causes here and in Africa. When you cut through the celebrity and fanfare you have to admit, if you can donate even a little to help someone somewhere, it has to be a good thing.It certainly makes me look at my life and realise how incredibly fortunate I am.Next time I moan about how fat I am please feel free to slap me.