Health

U2 Fans Celebrate Bono’s 60th Birthday with a Fundraiser for a Clean Water in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (PRWEB)

The African Well Fund (AWF) is excited to announce its 18th annual Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday campaign. Beginning May 1, AWF invites U2 fans from around the world to donate funds in honor of the musician’s 60th birthday. The funds raised will be used to build a new well serving 2500 in Nsiama, a village located in western DRC where there is currently no potable water. AWF hopes to raise $20,000 to build a solar powered well to serve the community.

Since 2003, AWF has joined together with the U2 fan community to celebrate and honor Bono’s birthday by raising funds for clean water and sanitation projects. This year we reached out to that community to collaborate on the theme for the annual fundraiser. The overwhelming favorite, “There is a Light…” was submitted by long-time U2 fan and AWF supporter, Tassoula E. Kokkoris. Kokkoris explains the inspiration behind her submission, “Since its inception, I’ve always contributed to the African Well Fund Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday campaign because the projects chosen always significantly improve the lives in the communities for which they are completed. The added factor of honoring Bono and signing the annual card for his birthday is the icing on the cake. Inspired by the lyric in U2’s ‘Song for Someone,’ I initially submitted the theme as a nod to Bono and the light he brings through his music, humanitarian work, and by extension, African Well Fund. But now, considering what we’re all facing during this pandemic, the lyric has evolved into something much more poignant.”

In a further collaboration with the U2 fan community, AWF reached out to award-winning artist, U2 fan and long time AWF supporter Kelly Eddington to create artwork for the campaign. Eddington created a beautiful original painting inspired by the theme “There is a Light…” Eddington says, “I was delighted and honored to create this painting of Bono for the annual birthday well fundraiser. I’ve painted him so many times over the years that I know his face by heart. I wish him many, many more happy birthdays and I hope people will be inspired to build many, many more wells in his name.”

From May 1 to May 31, fans may donate through the AWF website https://africanwellfund.org/build-a-well-for-bonos-birthday-2020/. As always, all donors are invited to add their name and a message to a birthday card that will be sent to Bono upon completion of the fundraiser. Since 2003, more than $280,000 has been raised in Bono’s honor to fund the construction of clean water and sanitation projects that are benefiting more than 86,000 people in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The African Well Fund is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of funding clean water and sanitation projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its founding in 2002, the organization has raised more than $1 million to fund over 30 projects in 15 countries, benefiting more than 350,000 people.

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