CLAREMONT - U2 singer Bono left his bandmates behind Tuesday night for a speaking engagement at the Claremont Colleges, where he highlighted problems of poverty and disease in Africa and outlined his ideas for helping the continent.

Thousands of Africans die every day from treatable diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and though the developed world already provides aid to the continent, Africa needs more, Bono said.

In hour-long remarks at Bridges Auditorium, Bono outlined a new approach toward raising money for international aid that he and others have made a focal point in recent years.

Bono, together with Bobby Shriver, last year launched a new product line called Product (RED), which partners major brands such as Apple, American Express and the Gap with aid organizations. A portion of all proceeds from Product (RED) merchandise goes directly to aid groups operating in Africa.

“The question for your generation, and mine, by the way, is not whether we know what’s going on, because we do. The question is whether we’re going to do something about it. Why aren’t we doing more about it?” said Bono, who spoke before a capacity audience at the 2,500-seat auditorium.

“If these pandemics, these epidemics, these fires were raging across America or Europe, wouldn’t we be doing more to put those fires out?”

Early in his remarks, Bono outlined the specific number of Africans dying from treatable disease.

Every day in Africa, 3,000 children die from malaria, he said.

“Five and a half thousand Africans dying every day of AIDS - a preventable treatable disease - for a lack of drugs you can get at any drug store here,” he said.

“(There are) 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa, 18 million by the end of the decade.

“A whole generation of active adults wiped out, children bringing up children. That’s not a cause, that’s an emergency.”

In the last several years, Bono has devoted a great deal of attention to problems of poverty in Third World nations.

Through his campaign he has met with President Bush and many foreign dignitaries to lobby for increased foreign aid to Africa.

But the driving power to change government policies and increase charitable efforts comes ultimately from public, for whom poverty in Africa is seldom a top priority. To help draw public attention in the developed word to Africa’s problems, Bono believes that a $20 million marketing campaign is needed, a campaign on the same scale that a company such as Nike would use to launch a new product line.

That marketing idea let to the creation of Product (RED). Only through partnerships with major brands can a group seeking to promote African aid reach a significant number of people, Bono said.

The iPod associated with the organization was the fastest selling iPod in history, Bono said. “That was the idea behind it, not just to raise money to buy the life-saving drugs, but to get on billboards and to get our message out in the malls,” he said.

Bono often during his remarks included light anecdotes about his U2 bandmates and meetings with domestic and foreign leaders.

He also acknowledged the apparent ridiculousness of a “rock star,” as he called himself, promoting foreign aid to Africa.

“I’ve always felt that even if celebrity is ridiculous, quite a silly thing, that it is currency,” he said. “And so I wanted to spend mine wisely.”

- DailyBulletin.com

Photo Gallery: Bono at Claremont McKenna College

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