Today would have been 10 years since the tragic death of two young Guinea boys who wanted to make a better life for themselves in Europe.
Yaguine Koita (aged 14) and Fodé Tounkara (aged 15) were stowaways who froze to death on a Sabena Airlines Airbus A330 (Flight 520) flying from Conakry, Guinea, to Brussels, Belgium, on 28 July 1999. Their bodies were discovered on 2 August in the airplane’s rear right-hand wheel bay at Brussels International Airport, after having made at least three return trips between Conakry and Brussels. The boys were carrying plastic bags with birth certificates, school report cards, photographs and a letter. This letter, written in imperfect French, was widely published in the world media.
A friend of mine recently exclaimed how pleasantly surprised she was about Alicia Keys & Wyclef Jean winning a Humanitarian Award at the BET awards and that she actually seemed to be doing a good amount of work and not just taking photos and generally milking the “celeb goes to 3rd world country and does good” opportunity, like many celebs (who shall remain shameless but nameless) often do.
Contrary to this, I was touched by this video and song created by John Legend, who founded the Show Me Campaign to end poverty through sustainable development at the individual, family, and community levels.
Let’s not all rush out and adopt orphaned village children, or start rocking Livestrong wristbands – just be inspired, reflective and always be willing to be active in working for a good cause. Although we value money, time to many – can be worth much more.
peace x