Akenaton, thanks for your reply.

Well....I didn't phone Oxfam back. Not because I don't believe what they told me or what you say, because I do, but the long and the short of it is that it really doesn't matter who said what...where. Gleneagles or Edinburgh, it WILL get through to the G8 leaders because they will not be able to ignore it!

What really matters is how many seconds have passed since this thread began and how many children have died. Short and simple to me what Live 8 is about.....Changing things! Ordinary people changing things, putting pressure on our so called Leaders who should be hanging their heads in shame.

Wouldn't it have been a great idea if EVERY city across the Live 8 countries were filled with people, just marching in silent protest, not just Edinburgh?

I remember over here in England, when Mrs.Thatcher was in power, a lady in the West Country rang up BBC Radio Devon and complained about the Poll Tax, saying how wrong and unfair it was and that we should all protest about it. That story was taken up by every BBC radio station across the land and within days The Poll Tax Protests were taking part in almost every city. We went into Plymouth to join everyone and I'd never seen anything like it. Thousands of people, just marching in silent protest, no damage, no riots, although I think Rent-a-Mob was out in other places. It changed everything. The Poll Tax was done away with very hastily....and the Politicians realised that you can only push people so far, although just lately we all become so apathetic again that we need a huge kick up the backside!!

It needs all of us right across the rich nations to take Live 8 up and say we've had enough of all this madness! It's not right that we live in countries where food is piled up to the ceilings in supermarkets whilst others have nothing. We're destroying food because we have too much and others are dying because they have nothing. Imagine being a parent and just holding your child in your arms while it dies, for no other reason than it has no food. How must that feel??? We can only imagine.......we are very blessed over here.

I understand about the corrupt, evil Governments in some of these countries. It makes me as mad as it makes everyone else!! Just last night we saw on our news the graves of two children killed by Mugabe's men, when they decimated their homes. And yes, something HAS to be done about that too! My Dad fought in World War II, he was a kind, gentle, peaceful man, he spoke very little about his experiences, but I remember that he did say that sometimes things are just so evil that you have to stand up and do something. Something needs to be done about Mugabe and all the others like him.

Already, as someone mentioned above and Bob mentioned on BBC Radio 2, the Anti-Poverty Coalitions are growing ever bigger, 18 nations have had their debts wiped out, 280 million people freed of that, 9 more countries to follow...possibly more. Bob talked of how the papers are suddenly becoming filled with pages containing information on trade justice, tariffs, cashflow subsidies, debt relationships, aid-flow packages. This is despite them all saying it was madness to even think about it, five years ago.

He spoke about not wanting to be an old man and look back on his life and know that he could have changed things, he could have done this, but turned away. And he hasn't turned away...he knows how people criticise him, but he just keeps on keeping on, despite it all. I admire him hugely for that. As Bruce above said in another thread "You don't just talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk." Hope it's OK to quote you Bruce, but they were good words!

So...Akenaton...if nothing else, why not visit that Oxfam Gift page and take a look. We, as a family, decided on 50 trees, some clothes and shoes, a goat and a cow!! It's all ordered and done now. And no....we're not rolling in money, my husband has recently lost his job through redundancy....and no...I'm not putting it on here to make you think good of me...let's face it I should have been doing it years ago! Many people have been for years and years quietly, just getting on with it. But this is about changing how the rich world has been behaving for years. It's so easy to turn away and just carry on with your life….Live 8 are trying hard to make us think differently.

But just think if you decided to go for even the smallest item at £6 and told 10 friends, then those 10 friends told 10 more each, making 100, then those 100 told 10 each, turning it into a 1,000 people and then 10,000 and then 100,000 and then.......suddenly you have the Pyramid Effect and a Waterfall Of People all wanting to help. And that waterfall can turn into an entire Sea Of People, made up of the likes of you and me.

To quote Bob again from the radio interview above:

"It's about changing the dynamics between the rich and the poor world."

"It is maybe likely that with having all of us embarked on this adventure to change the world within the next two weeks that we might just get there."

"It's individual humans helping other people"

And THAT'S what July 2nd and July 6th is about to me. Not just about the politicians and wiping out the debts, but about all of us deciding to do things differently.

Daylia....your concert sounds great! Hope you enjoy it and that it achieves more than anyone ever thought.

And here's one more site to visit....well two actually. The first is Martyn Joseph, an incredible, committed, passionate man whose songs are making a difference everywhere he sings them. He's in Canada a huge amount of the time so check him out, because this man has the power to change how you view things in life.

http://www.piperecords.co.uk/martynj/community2.htm

The second is Harry Chapin's site. A man whose songs and attitudes I loved deeply when I was younger. Harry was incensed about world hunger and was determined to change all that in his lifetime. He started up the 'WHY' foundation 'World Hunger Year'..which is still going today, with Bruce Springsteen and others still taking up that challenge. Had Harry not died so tragically, so early in his life, who knows what he might have achieved. I've put the link through directly from Harry's site to the World Hunger Year site. Hope it works.

http://www.worldhungeryear.org/

And finally wouldn't it be great to hear Steve Earle singing 'The Revolution Starts Now' somewhere during the Live 8 concerts.

Apologies for the length of this post.

Lizzie :0)