I woke up at five, having slept six hours undisturbed by a full bladder. I can't remember when I last slept so sweetly - seven years perhaps? I went back to sleep straight away, and got up at a quarter to eight for another hot blue sky sunny day.
My fitbit refused to recognise the extra two and a half dormant hours, obliging me to add the time period and let the app work out how much of that time I was awake or asleep. It's an annoying inconsistency, which calls into question how accurate all its recordings are. They can only be taken as a rough guide. I hate it when the app tells me to take it easy as its measurements determine I'm not ready for exercise. While it's occasionally true that the app is consistent with how I feel, after such a refreshing relaxing night of sleep, I had a clear head and plenty of energy, the measurements were unreal, inaccurate. I wish I could switch off its 'coaching' pop-ups, which presume I am engaged in fitness training. All I need is to check I'm walking and sleeping enough each day. I don't need a cheerleader.
We went to St Catherine's for the Eucharist, leaving Jasmine and Louie to get up for breakfast when they felt like. I counted a dozen children at church with their parents, and three dozen adults. All the doors were open and sunlight streamed into nave. Thanks to stained glass windows, the interior isn't well lit by nature, but with open west and south doors there's an added warm hue to lift the spirits. We came straight home after the service so Clare could prepare lunch. Jasmine and Louie didn't expect to eat at midday however and hadn't long had breakfast. Louie still has a bad stomach. We ate a little later than usual, with Jasmine keeping her apple crumble for later.
After a short siesta Jasmine and I went blackberry picking around the fringes of Llandaff Fields where we noticed enough ripe berries to make it worth the effort. We returned in under an hour with a pound and a quarter ready to make into jelly or jam. Later Louie went out with Jasmine for another round of foraging, bringing the total to two pounds. I went out again after supper to enjoy the cool breeze as the sky clouded over, and completed my daily distance.
I joined Clare watching a documentary on the outcome of the 1985 Live Aid concert, interviewing pop star activists, musical entrepreneurs and politicians involved at the time and in the 2005 Live 8 campaign and events. What started by drawing attention to famine in Africa moved from just popular fund raising for famine relief to drawing attention to the AIDS pandemic that needed urgent attention not only to prevent it spreading, but also research to find effective treatment. Chronic widespread poverty, the root cause of all Africa's dire problems then became the long term focus of attention and debt cancellation the main aim of campaigning celebrities and the politicians whose attention they could grab - successfully, it turned out by the time of the G8 Gleneagles summit in 2005 with pledges of $50 billions' worth of debts to be cancelled. Another twenty years on, $30 billions' worth has been delivered.
Over the past twenty years there's no doubt this has made a substantial difference to economies across Africa. Agricultural development, improved medical care have led to longer life expectancy, and economic improvement, but the gulf between the very rich elite and mass poverty persists. In the digital era Africa has become a place of interest because of its rare earth mineral and precious metal resources, as these are essential for components in every electronic device the world relies on. There's fierce competition to mine, conflict over ownership and exploitation rights not only within African nations, but internationally.
Yes, Africa has benefited economically and socially from the internet, but much of the wealth derived from the mining of minerals is exported. European nations colonised and exploited Africa for two centuries, now China and Russia are welcome investors in African countries with resources and expertise, in their bids for power and influence in determining who runs the world and how. Those who have the rare minerals hold the global future in their hands.
Twenty years on, global heating is precipitating a crisis which will affect Africa and maybe cancel all the gains made by the forty year long international campaign to ensure justice for the poorest of the poor. Bob Geldof, Bono and other celebrity advocates interviewed all look forty years older and insist that a new generation will rise up and carry on campaigning in their own ways. But how will future advocates of justice exert pressure on political leaders when everyone is enmeshed in the same global communications system over which nobody has full control, and a relative few massively powerful corporations determine global priorities in ways which benefit themselves and not the poor?
